NEW YORK — Two anti-abortion activists known for creating chaos when they visit New York were indicted Friday for blocking access to a lower Manhattan Planned Parenthood clinic, federal prosecutors said.
Bevelyn Beatty Williams and Edmee Chavannes surrendered in their home state of Tennessee to face charges that they tried to stop women from getting into the center, which provide abortions and other reproductive services.
The pair is accused of threatening patients at Manhattan health care facility on June 19 and 20, 2020. A source confirmed the clinic was a Planned Parenthood on Bleecker St.
Williams — who’s originally from Staten Island and describes herself on Instagram as the “wife of Christ” — has live streamed many of her alleged antics.
“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,” she told her followers, according to the indictment. “And we’re going to make sure we terrorize you guys so good.”
The charges allege one victim was injured during a standoff when Williams crushed the person’s hand in a door while singing, “We shall not be moved.”
Williams aired the whole thing on social media, the feds said.
“We not moving. We’re standing here, so I guess no women will be coming in for abortions today,” Williams said in another video. “It’s a warzone.”
That same month, Chavannes, 41, and Williams, 31, were busted after they smeared paint all over the Black Lives Matter mural on Fifth Ave. in front of Trump Tower in Midtown.
In the past, the two have boasted about the right-wing group the Proud Boys providing “security” for them as they protested abortion clinics in the city.
The women continued their reign of terror after that, making stops in Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia. They returned to the city in August, where they slipped into a Brooklyn Planned Parenthood and told women in the waiting room, “I rebuke this building in the name of Jesus! Abortion is murder! ... Do not kill your babies! This is wicked!”
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said his office would come down hard on anyone who sought to prevent people from accessing their legal right to reproductive health care.
He committed to ensuring that “health care facilities, their staff, and those seeking to obtain reproductive health services can continue to do so without unlawful interference.”
Williams and Chavannes were charged with conspiracy to violate the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which carries five years in prison, and related offenses. Williams was also charged with using force in doing so that resulted in bodily harm, which carries an additional 10 years.
They have been named in multiple cases alleging similar conduct, including a settled civil lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general last year for violently trying to stop patients from accessing Planned Parenthood.
In June 2020, Williams and Chavannes, who lived together in Staten Island, were arrested after the smeared paint over the Black Lives Matter mural on Fifth Ave. in front of Trump Tower in Midtown.
In the past, they have boasted about the right-wing group the Proud Boys providing “security” for them as they protested abortion clinics in the city.
“Proud Boys, we want to thank you guys! The same ones people call Nazis — them Nazis came and they stood.... them guys came strapped up, wrapped up, exercising their 2nd Amendment, holding it down for us, making sure we were safe. So kudos, God bless Proud Boys,” Beatty said in a YouTube video.
Williams’ and Chavannes’ lawyers could not be reached.
