Jonathan Darnel

Jonathan Darnel, 43, was one of the two principal organizers of a coordinated blockade of the Washington Surgi-Clinic, a reproductive health clinic in Washington, D.C., on October 22, 2020. Darnel and co-defendant Lauren Handy led the planning and coordination of the clinic invasion, advertising the event on social media as a "historic" rescue and livestreaming it on Facebook. Along with eight other co-defendants — Handy, Herb Geraghty, Heather Idoni, Jean Marshall, Joan Bell, John Hinshaw, William Goodman, Paulette Harlow, and Jay Smith — Darnel organized the group's entry into the clinic, where they used their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes to blockade two clinic entrances, preventing staff and patients from accessing the facility. A clinic nurse was injured during the group's forced entry; one patient had to climb through a receptionist window to access the clinic, and another was left lying in the hallway outside in physical distress. Darnel was convicted at trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia of conspiracy against rights (18 U.S.C. § 241) and violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act, 18 U.S.C. § 248). His conviction came in September 2023 in the second of three separate trials in the case, alongside co-defendants Jean Marshall and Joan Bell.