Missionary who served 59 days in prison for ‘interposing’ outside abortion doors petitions Supreme Court on fetal personhood
Posted at Christian News Network:
WASHINGTON — A long-time pro-life missionary who served 59 days in federal prison has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review his criminal conviction—asking the justices to establish full legal personhood for unborn children starting at fertilization.Steve Lefemine filed a pro se petition for certiorari following his conviction under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act (18 U.S.C. § 248). The charges stem from a November 2022 act of interposition in Columbia, South Carolina, where Lefemine nonviolently sat outside the client entrance of a local Planned Parenthood facility to block access on an abortion day.
After an arrest for trespassing by local police and a subsequent federal indictment by the Department of Justice, Lefemine was convicted in U.S. District Court following a bench trial where his request for a jury trial was denied. Sentenced to 60 days in federal custody alongside thousands of dollars in financial penalties, he served 59 days at the Salters, S.C. federal prison camp late last year.
Following a dismissal by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the case—Steven Clark Lefemine v. United States of America (Docket No. 26-5593)—is now before the nation’s highest court.
