A Tennessee woman was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison for her participation in a 2020 protest blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic in New York City.
Manhattan-based Judge Jennifer L. Rochon sentenced Bevelyn Beatty Williams of Ooltewah, Tennessee, to three years and five months in prison, noting the 33-year-old pro-life protester organized the June 2020 demonstration and live-streamed the event online.
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In sentencing Williams, the judge noted a handful of other criminal convictions in the protester’s background. Among them is a conviction that came in February, when, after a two-week trial, Williams was found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
At the time, Williams requested leniency. She told the court she was traumatized by her difficult childhood and an abortion she had at 15 years old. She said, though, she has since found faith in God.
She spoke with CBN News in 2020 about her conversion to Christianity, which came while she was behind bars for her part in a money-laundering scheme. While she was in prison, someone shared the Gospel with her, Williams said, and she gave her life to Christ.
“When I got out of jail, honey, you couldn’t get me to steal a pack of bubble gum,” she told CBN News. “You couldn’t get me to do nothing.”
From that point forward, Williams dedicated herself to working as a Christian activist fighting against abortion with At Well Ministries. She also speaks out against what she sees as the harms of the progressive Black Lives Matter organization and the Democratic Party.
“Christians have to recognize that, if we don’t stand up and smell the coffee, we are going to give away our freedoms and America is going to turn into a communist country,” she said in 2020. “Once America turns into a communist country, the world will be communism and we will be back in the days of Noah.”
As for the latest charge, when the judge sentenced Williams on Wednesday, she told the protester, “You cannot commit crimes — even in the name of a religious cause.”
Rochon stated Williams threatened to terrorize the Manhattan-based health facility and blocked patrons’ access to the abortion clinic.
According to the indictment, Williams said on her livestream, “This is going to be a wonderful day. We are going to terrorize this place. And I want the manager to hear me say that. We are going to terrorize this place. More people are coming.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitzi Steiner, it should be noted, also accused Williams of blocking access to abortion clinics in Fort Myers, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; and Atlanta, Georgia.
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