Letter to the Editor: Anti-Abortion Extremists Should Be Given the Maximum Sentence
- Thursday, 19 May 2022 12:00
- Last Updated: Friday, 20 May 2022 21:15
- Published: Thursday, 19 May 2022 12:00
- Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 1693
(Letter to the Editor)
To the Editor: We write to express our opinion that the three defendants who were found guilty of criminal trespass for invading the All Women’s Health & Medical Services on November 27, 2021 must be given the maximum sentence allowed by law: 3 months in jail, and each ordered to pay a fine of $500 when they are sentenced in White Plains in June.
Christopher Moscinski, Matthew Connelly, and William Goodman entered the clinic during business hours, refused to leave, and harassed and intimidated staff and patients. They have engaged in the same unlawful behavior many times before at various other locations. But they have suffered few, if any, consequences, leaving them with no motivation to stop such behavior, or to reform their disregard for both established law and patient privacy. They are members of Red Rose Rescue, an extremist anti-abortion group, which operates all over the country.
Besides their egregious intimidation of patients engaged in accessing healthcare services to which they are entitled by law, these defendants waste taxpayer money and make a mockery of the legal system. They must not continue to get away with their utter disregard for the law and for the trauma inflicted by their actions.
Judy Fletcher, Deborah Swiderski, MD, Elizabeth de Bethune, Caroline Stern, Eileen O'Connor (FNP)