SC abortion protester appeals obstruction conviction, cites pro-choice law
A longtime pro-life activist is appealing a conviction that cost him $1,000 and 60 days in federal prison.
Steven Lefemine, 69, of Columbia, has asked the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn his March 2024 conviction of violating the Freedom of Access to a Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act. He was accused of blocking the entrance to a Columbia Planned Parenthood clinic in November 2022.
Lefemine also petitioned the appeals court to reverse the FACE Act — a 1994 law that prohibits anti-abortion activists from intimidating or interfering with persons seeking an abortion at a clinic. He argues that after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, women no longer have a federal constitutional right to an abortion.
Lefemine, who has been widely known for years as a Bible-quoting, hymn-singing, Constitution-citing anti-abortion activist, argues his conviction was unjust because the FACE Act became void after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the 2022 Dobbs decision.
He further argues that “God’s law is the rightful, just basis for man’s law.” He argues that God’s law maintains that life begins at conception, thereby eroding any protections afforded to women who seek abortions.
His arrest stemmed from an incident on Nov. 15, 2022, where Lefemine nonviolently obstructed the entrance to a Planned Parenthood clinic located off Forest Drive, according to the appeal. The clinic provides abortions, birth control services and numerous other aspects of reproductive and women’s health care.
Lefemine was taken into custody by Columbia police and charged with trespassing. He was convicted by a jury in municipal court on Jan. 24, 2024, and ordered to a pay a $465 fine.
A month later, U.S. District Court Judge Joe Anderson found Lefemine guilty during a bench trial of defying the FACE Act.
Lefemine served 59 days at the FCI Williamsburg prison camp in Salters South Carolina and was released on Nov. 14, 2024.
A U.S. Military Academy graduate and industrial engineer, Lefemine represented himself during both his bench trial and sentencing hearing. Because the charge against Lefemine was a misdemenor offense, he was not entitled to a jury trial, Anderson said.
However, Lefemine’s appellate attorney, James A. Brown Jr., argues that Lefemine should’ve been entitled to a jury trial, according to a news release.
“The federal appeals court appears to have an interest in the issue of whether Mr. Lefemine was entitled to a jury trial,” Brown said.
Lefemine, who’s asked the court to grant him five minutes during oral arguments, said his primary argument is that God’s law is supreme.
“The most important point I’m trying to make is that God’s law is the rightful, just basis for man’s law,” Lefemine said. “Number two, human life begins at conception, and since we know by definition that human beings are natural persons ... our inherent God-given, unalienable right to life should be protected in both statutory and constitutional law.”
Trump pardons pro-life FACE defendants
President Donald Trump pardoned more than 20 pro-life FACE defendants on Jan. 23, 2025.
Additionally, a day later, the president issued a memorandum directing the U.S. Department of Justice to cease prosecutions against non-violent protesters charged under the FACE Act and to drop three pending cases.
Nevertheless, Lefemine declined to apply for a presidential pardon in order to preserve his appeal to the Fourth Circuit, a news release said.
Oral arguments on Lafemine’s appeal are slated for 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 12, 2025, at the Lewis F. Powell Jr. United States Courthouse in Richmond, Virginia.
