Federal agents allegedly paid a gun-drawn visit to at least one pro-life activist home Wednesday for protesting at a Tennessee abortion facility last year, while others were ordered to report to their local authorities to face federal charges.
According to a report from liveaction.org, FBI agents allegedly entered the home of pro-life activist Chet Gallagher with guns drawn. Authorities showed up to Gallaghers home for leading a group of protestors at a “rescue” event outside the Carafem abortion facility in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, in March 2021.
Gallagher, who was out of state at the time of the visit, organized the event to persuade women out of aborting their unborn children.
AJ Hurley, a pro-life activist, told Live Action News that neighbors of Gallagher said federal authorities tried questioning them for information about Gallagher’s location after realizing he was not home.
“The FBI isn’t even performing the investigations,” Hurley said. “The DOJ is doing their own investigations and using the FBI as their arm of that organization.”
Hurley said normally the FBI issues a warrant when conducting an investigation if they believe someone is guilty of federal crimes.
“Instead, the DOJ is … sending local branches of the FBI with arrest warrants to be their strong arm,” Hurley said.
Hurley also noted that federal agents allegedly called other individuals involved in the “rescue” events, saying they have arrest warrants, and telling the protestors to turn themselves in.
Hurley told Live Action News those individuals are Paul Place, Caroline Davis, Dr. Coleman Boyd, Dennis Green, and Heather Idoni, including others who were unnamed.
Such individuals present at the event last year were reportedly arrested by local police that day and later released after posting bail for misdemeanor trespassing charges.
According to Hurley, pro-life activists were recently charged with the Freedom of Access to Clinic Act (FACE) and conspiracy charges, which could result in up to 10 years in prison.
Just weeks before Wednesday’s FBI activities, Hurley said he visited the same abortion facility with others and waited outside before asking to speak to the officers inside the building. Instead, officers allegedly came out and spoke with Hurley and the others.
Three days later, Hurley and others present were served with civil FACE charges.
“This is a new tactic the DOJ has been thawing [sic] at pro-lifers to see if the charges stick,” he said.
The news comes after another report of FBI agents raiding the home of a pro-life activist in Pennsylvania last month before arresting him.
A group of 25 to 30 FBI agents raided the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, home of pro-life activist Mark Houck on September 23.
Houck is the leader of a nonprofit group that provides sidewalk counseling at abortion clinics in Philadelphia. The arrest seemed to stem from a court case dismissed by a federal court in Philadelphia, but somehow picked up by the Department of Justice, his family said.