NJ Anti-Abortion Activist Sentenced For Barricading Clinic In DC: Feds

MONTAGUE, NJ — A New Jersey woman will spend more than two years in prison, after being convicted on federal civil rights charges for breaking into and barricading an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia charged 10 people total after the incident in October of 2020, where the group gained access to an abortion clinic and then prevented employees and patients from getting in. Officials said this was a conspiracy to prevent the clinic from providing abortion services and stop patients from entering.

Joan Bell, 76, of Montague was among those charged and officials said she has been sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Last September, jury found Bell and three of the other defendants guilty of conspiracy against civil rights, and violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which was enacted in 1997.

Bell has been a longtime anti-abortion activist who participates in clinic "rescues," as Diocese of Paterson Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney noted in an October 2023 reflection on her conviction.

At Wednesday's sentencing, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly also ordered Bell to be on supervised release for three years.

According to federal documents, the 10 people coordinated with one another to gain access to an abortion clinic on October 22, 2020, with 30-year-old Lauren Handy of Virginia arranging a patient appointment under the name "Hazel Jenkins."

Bell and seven of the other defendants traveled to Washington from out of the area, authorities said; Handy and 42-year-old Jonathan Darnel both lived near the capital.

Federal authorities said that on that day, Handy arrived for the scheduled 9 a.m. appointment under the fake name, while Darnel set up a Facebook event titled "No one dies today."

Others including Bell gathered outside the front door, and officials said they forced their way into the building when staff unlocked the front door to admit patients. Bell and other defendants began to block the doors, and move chairs into the waiting room to obstruct passage into the treatment area.

Officials said Bell was part of group of five that sat in those chairs and then chained and roped themselves together to make a barricade.

Two other defendants blocked a patient from using the employee entrance, while Handy stood at the main entrance and Darnel stood outside filming.

"...the rescuers are doing their job," he said, according to court documents. "They're not allowing women to enter the abortion clinic. As long as they're in there, no women can go in to kill their children."

Handy was sentenced on Tuesday to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release, officials said.

Darnel was also sentenced on Wednesday, receiving a sentence of 34 months in prison with three years of supervised release.