Abortion-Protest Livestreamers Can’t Escape Criminal Conviction

Eight abortion protesters are facing sentencing after they failed to overturn their convictions for conspiring to violate others’ civil rights and obstructing a health-care clinic.

The evidence introduced against the group—including a Facebook livestream of their October 2020 blockade of a Washington clinic—was sufficient to support the convictions, the US District Court for the District of Columbia said Thursday.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly denied post-conviction motions filed by Lauren Handy, Jonathan Darnel, Jay Smith, Paula Harlow, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, William Goodman, Joan Bell, and Herb Geraghty.

The judge previously rejected pretrial requests to dismiss the charges. The defendants claimed they ...