NY AG Files Injunction Against Anti-Abortion Group

WHITE PLAINS, NY — New York Attorney General Letitia James took steps Wednesday to prevent an anti-abortion group from blocking access to or interfering with abortion care in the state.

Following the lawsuit she filed against Red Rose Rescue in June, James filed a motion Wednesday for a preliminary injunction to prohibit the group and its members from coming within 30 feet of any reproductive healthcare facility in New York pending trial.

Despite multiple convictions in White Plains and other places in New York, Red Rose Rescue and its members — including Christopher “Fidelis” Moscinski, Matthew Connolly, William Goodman, Laura Gies and John Hinshaw — have repeatedly trespassed at abortion clinics and physically blocked access to reproductive health care services in an effort to stop clinics from operating.

Obstructing or interfering with access to reproductive health care clinics, including abortion clinics, is illegal under the United State Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and the New York State Clinic Access Act.

In June 2022, in the wake of the United States Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Westchester County passed a law protecting healthcare workers and patients seeking medical treatment from being obstructed from entering or exiting a reproductive health care facility and from harassing behavior from persons within specific distances of the premises.

James said that Red Rose Rescue continues to threaten reproductive health care providers and the patients they serve in New York and nationwide.

“Every person has the right to access reproductive health care clinics without obstruction or interruption,” she said. “New Yorkers have my word: I will always take action to defend your right to make your own choices about your own bodies.”

After a three-day trial in March 2022, Connelly, Goodman and Moscinski were each found guilty of third-degree criminal trespass, a misdemeanor.

They snuck into All Women’s Medical in White Plains in November 2021, pretending to be patients, confronting real patients and blocking the entrance to the office.

In spite of warnings from medical staff and the police, the three men stayed in the clinic. Eventually, they were arrested and had to be carried out.