Make an example of them all

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 last November must be given the maximum sentence allowed by law: Three months in jail, and each ordered to pay a fine of $500 when they are sentenced in White Plains later this month. 

Christopher Moscinski, Matthew Connelly and William Goodman entered the clinic during business hours, refused to leave, and harassed and intimidated staff members 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 health care 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

The authors also write on behalf of Elizabeth de Bethune, Caroline Stern and Eileen O’Connor