Paula Harlow

Paulette Harlow, 75, of Kingston, Massachusetts, was one of ten defendants who participated in a coordinated blockade of the Washington Surgi-Clinic, a reproductive health clinic in Washington, D.C., on October 22, 2020. Along with co-defendants Lauren Handy, Jonathan Darnel, Herb Geraghty, Heather Idoni, Jean Marshall, Joan Bell, John Hinshaw, William Goodman, and Jay Smith, Harlow traveled to Washington to take part in what the group's leaders — Handy and Darnel — had organized as a "historic" rescue, livestreamed on Facebook. The defendants used force and physical obstruction to blockade two clinic entrances using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes, 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. Harlow 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). Her conviction came in November 2023 in the third and final of three separate trials in the case.