Paul Vaughn of Tennessee is committed to God, his whole life is wrapped up in doing the will of God. Paul is also committed to saving unborn children and their mothers from the cruelty of abortion. He is founder and president of Personhood Tennessee and a sidewalk counselor outside the abortion clinic in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.
What is unique in this story is Paul’s two commitments led to a rescue-like peaceful pro-life prayer demonstration at that clinic, arrest 15 months later for violation of federal law, trial, conviction on federal charges, and eventual pardon by President Donald J. Trump on January 23, 2025, the day after his inauguration.
“Only God can write these stories,” Paul told the audience at Pro-Life Action Ministries’annual Life Banquet on October 6. PLAM was founded in 1981 by two religious Brothers who felt called for a deep public witness for life. As their fledgling religious order grew in the Archdiocese of St. Paul Minneapolis, the Brothers stepped back from managing the organization, which has operated as one of the leading pro-life organizations in America for decades.
Hundreds of pro-life people attended this 2025 banquet to renew friendships, catch up on latest pro-life actions, including such things as closure of a large clinic in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, and the group’s win against the city of Minneapolis which had enacted an ordinanceblocking pro-lifers from the public sidewalk in front of a clinic. There was talk of babies saved and turning hearts away from death. One young counselor at a PLAM site was in awe that a couple left Planned Parenthood after talking with her. “God used me for that purpose,” she said.
Indeed, Paul Vaughn from Centerville, Tenn., echoed those words in his talk. He had often prayed, “God, use me whatever way you want.” He added, “Be careful what you pray for.”
Paul and his wife Bethany, parents of eleven children, give active witness to life. They have counseled for years at Mt. Juliet, just on the eastern outskirts of Nashville, offering shelter options, food, and other assistance to troubled mothers who think abortion can help them. Others joined them in this ministry. Many times the group would gather in prayer and at one of these gatherings, they recalled the Operation Rescue endeavors of the 1980s, Randall Terry’s organization which took over the inside of clinics to prevent the destruction of the unborn.
The group decided they liked the concept and on the morning of March 5, 2021, entered the medical building which housed the abortion clinic.
“We were not on the sidewalk,” Paul said. “We were in the building.” The group lined, not blocked, the long hallway to the clinic. There was access to all medical offices.
Police were dispatched to the scene, negotiators, more used to Antifa demonstrators than prayer groups, spoke with Paul and asked the group to leave. There was no yelling, pushing, shoving as the group walked out, continuing their prayers and hymns. Several of these protesters– adults and minors – were arrested for criminal trespass. Paul was not arrested.
Flash forward 18 months. All is good, Paul and his family were in their morning routine, kids getting ready to pile into the car and go to school. Suddenly, banging on the door. Paul looked out the curtains and saw government SUVs, flashing lights, and a guy in tactical gear holding an AR-15 aimed for the door. Another was behind him, a hand gun in outstretched hands, also aimed for the door.
“Who are you? Show identification!”
Pointing to his badge, one man said, “This is all the identification you get.”
They told him he was under arrest and seemed ready for armed conflict, Paul said. “But I was unarmed.” He opened the door and went outside.
Several of his children were at home and watched as Paul was handcuffed; others had been en route to the car for their ride to school and an officer with a rifle kept them outside.
Bethany took a video of the interactions on her phone, asked repeated questions, “I want to know why you’re banging on my door with a gun. You’re not going to tell me why you’re here? You’re not going to give me any information?” All of which went unanswered. The video shows cars, flashing lights, and Paul being put in a vehicle. His phone and glasses were confiscated. As they left, Bethany told the children, “God is with daddy.”
Arriving in Nashville, Paul was finally informed of the charges against him. “It took 18 months to go after me,” Paul said. He had not been arrested at the clinic in March of 2021, had no idea this FBI raid was coming. He was charged with participating in a conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act and violation of the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act.
The FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, enacted in 1994, prohibits intentionally using force or obstruction to interfere with access to reproductive health care services. The conspiracy against rights law, enacted in the 1880s, was being used for the first time in the context of pro-life prosecution. By combining both of those alleged violations, Paulwas looking at potentially 11 years behind bars and a fine of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Federal marshals processed Paul’s arrest, took DNA samples, searched his shoes and clothing for weapons. He was locked in a cell in a federal detention center for 15 hours and then released since detention wasn’t the goal of the arrest – trial on the federal charges was the end game. Although assigned an attorney, Paul contacted the Thomas More Society.
“Paul Vaughn’s arrest in front of his wife and seven of his children…followed by his indictment on federal charges is yet another attempt on the part of the Biden Department of Justice to frighten and intimidate Christians and committed life advocates,” said Senior Counsel Steve Crampton.
The case went to a jury trial in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on January 23, 2024. Originally there were 7 people facing these expanded charges; 4 others who had been arrested had been charged of lesser crimes. One of the 7 turned state’s evidence, Paul said. He and his remaining 5 prayer partners were tried and convicted on all counts. It was obvious at the trial that the evidence against them was manufactured: An abortion employee said she was “trapped inside the building,” yet photographs showed a passable hallway; the government charged that Paul had deceived police, even though the negotiators with whom he’d spoken said he’d been cooperative; the government insisted Paul was a member of a criminal conspiracy, a conspiracy he knew nothing about. Sentencing was set for July, 2024.
By the grace of God, Paul was sentenced to three years supervised release. In a statement (see the report on Thomas More Society site here), he said:
“We rejoice in God’s plans. Because this is at the heart a spiritual battle, we are thankful to have a strong advocate in the Thomas More Society. Not only are they experts at law, but they deeply understand the spiritual battle raging across our land. We will appeal to have this unlawful use of the law overturned. We must stand and fight for what is right, we cannot bow down to the lie. Laws have to be grounded in truth, they have to align with the ultimate lawgiver, who is Christ our Lord. The false narratives plaguing our nation will fall when we stand up to them. That is what this case is about and I’m ever thankful to have a legal team who understands that truth and who is willing to fight for it all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.”
An appeal of his conviction and a challenge to the FACE Act are in the works.
Meanwhile, Paul was asked to testify before the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government in December, 2024. Amazingly, an FBI agent reached out to participate on his behalf. Paul received permission from the federal judge to leave Tennessee to do this and his assigned parole officer later allowed him to attend the March for Life in January in Washington, DC. It was while on a panel at the event that attorney Steve Crampton received a text. He turned to Paul and told him newly inaugurated President Donald Trump had pardoned pro-lifers who had been convicted, some still jailed, for violating the FACE Act. Twenty-three witnesses for life, had received justice. Paul was one of them.
In a statement, as reported by Kurt Jensen for OSV News, Steve Crampton said, “Today, freedom rings in our great nation. The heroic peaceful pro-lifers unjustly imprisoned by Biden’s Justice Department will now be freed and able to return home to their families, eat a family meal, and enjoy the freedom that should have never been taken from them in the first place.”
Paul sticks to his main belief. “Only God can write these stories.” He feels his purpose in all of this tribulation was to “play his part in God’s plan in history.”
Editor’s Note: This gripping and excellently woven piece captures a pivotal moment in the pro-life movement, especially resonant in light of the recent 2025 pardon. The images from the Life Banquet reflect the community’s enduring spirit.
This article, Commitment and Perseverance: Paul Vaughn’s Pro-Life Journey is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/commitment-and-perseverance-paul-vaughns-pro-life-journey/
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