Pro-life activist Anastasia Rogers says the dismissal of charges against her over a video she filmed outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in San Francisco shows that “God had other plans.” In an Instagram post, the pro-life group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust announced that all charges against Rogers had been dropped in connection with “a 14-second video filmed outside a San Francisco Planned Parenthood" that prosecutors alleged sought to intimidate Planned Parenthood staff.
The video led to her “being arrested and charged under California’s [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances] Act,” the group said. The state law makes it a crime to use force, the threat of force or physical obstruction to interfere with someone seeking or providing reproductive healthcare.
Rogers was also “placed under a protective order restricting her sidewalk outreach.” The first trial ended in a mistrial after a hung jury, meaning jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict. It expressed gratitude that the remaining charges had now been dropped and the protective order lifted. The group thanked Life Legal Defense Foundation for representing Rogers.
Rogers described the case in a joint Instagram post with Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, its San Francisco chapter and Life Legal Defense Foundation. “Just over one year ago, I posted a 14-second Instagram reel. Yesterday, the FACE Act charges filed against me were dismissed.
For a year, I watched my time, my energy, my First Amendment rights and for a part of that time, even my ability to sidewalk counsel, get dragged through the courts,” she said. “California took me to trial, and they couldn’t convict me,” Rogers added. “They even wanted to try again but God had other plans. It’s over. We beat the FACE Act. Remember that God is faithful.”