A Christian grandfather walked into federal prison this week to serve a sentence related to a peaceful pro-life protest while Vice President Kamala Harris (D) caterwauled about her opponent, former President Donald Trump, allegedly threatening to imprison those who “disagree with him.”
Around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Calvin Zastrow, 63, arrived at Federal Correctional Institute Thomson in Illinois to begin serving a six-month sentence for participating in a peaceful protest outside a Tennessee abortion clinic on March 5, 2021.
A report from the Daily Wire claimed that Zastrow and others gathered outside the clinic that day, “sat in front of the entrance,” “sang hymns,” and “urged women not to have abortions.” A Department of Justice press release described the incident as a “clinic blockade” that prevented “employees from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services.”
Nothing in the DOJ press release indicates that Zastrow or his five co-defendants engaged in violence. The press release does note that co-defendants Chester Gallagher and Paul Vaughn “stalled the Mount Juliet Police Department through negotiations that Gallagher referred to as a delay tactic,” a detail that seems to reiterate that the protesters were committed to peaceful, civil disobedience, not violence.
The same cannot be said for some of Zastrow’s fellow inmates at Federal Correctional Institute Thomson. According to the Daily Wire, the prison had five suspected homicides and two suspected suicides between 2019 and 2023.
Sex-related crime is also apparently rampant at the facility. Prison staff there filed 275 reports of sexual misconduct in 2022 alone, the Daily Wire claimed.
Despite the violent environment in which he will spend the next six months, Zastrow — who was convicted in January of felony conspiracy against rights and of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act — is embracing the opportunity to continue evangelizing.
“I’m praying to be able to witness for Christ. If I’m miserable there and can’t sleep well, then I’ll just suffer with honor for Jesus,” he told the Daily Wire. “But if I’m able to get sleep and be healthy, I’m just going to see who the Lord wants me to minister to and be ministered to by.”
“I’m here to declare the glories of Christ and his kingdom,” Zastrow continued. “I’m just here to do that. I’m just going let all the demons in hell know that they’re on notice.”
The Thomas More Society, which is representing Zastrow in a separate case, is disgusted by the Biden-Harris DOJ’s ruthless prosecution of peaceful pro-lifers like Zastrow.
“Calvin Zastrow … is a peaceful man with a deep love for others and for his country. He has dedicated his life to peacefully interposing on behalf of innocent children in the womb who face imminent violence – indeed, death,” said TMS senior counsel Steve Crampton in a statement to Blaze News.
“The injustice of sentencing such a man of peace to perhaps the most violent federal penitentiary in the nation is hard to fathom. But it underscores the blind allegiance of the Biden-Harris administration to the abortion industry and their unbridled zeal to crush the pro-life movement.”
‘In a democracy, the president of the United States, in the United States of America, should be willing to be able to handle criticism,’ she then seethed, ‘without saying he’d lock people up for doing it.’
The Biden-Harris DOJ does seem determined to prosecute peaceful pro-lifers. This week, Bevelyn Williams, a 33-year-old Christian wife and mother, began serving a 41-month sentence for misdemeanor criminal trespass in connection with a pro-life protest.
In September 2023, the Biden-Harris DOJ secured convictions against elderly pro-lifers who committed similar supposed crimes. Among the defendants in this case were Joan Andrews Bell, then 74, and Jean Marshall, then 72.
Paulette Harlow, then 73 and suffering from a debilitating medical condition, was initially determined to be unfit for trial. However, two months later, she was convicted and sentenced to 24 months in prison.
Even as the DOJ under the Biden-Harris administration has focused on prosecuting peaceful Christians who oppose abortion and on prosecuting Trump for ridiculous alleged offenses, Vice President Harris waxed indignant in her infamous interview with Bret Baier of Fox News that Trump allegedly wants to sic lawfare on people who have a different opinion than he does.
Trump “talked about locking people up because they disagree with him,” a visibly flustered Harris fumed to Baier.
“This is a democracy,” she then lectured, pointing her finger and bobbing her head furiously.
“And in a democracy, the president of the United States, in the United States of America, should be willing to be able to handle criticism without saying he’d lock people up for doing it.”
Of note, the U.S. has always been and continues to be a constitutional republic. Harris’ interview with Baier aired on Wednesday, about 24 hours after Zastrow reported to prison.
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Bret baier, Donald trump, Kamala harris, Lawfare, Peaceful protests, Pro-life, Politics
