3 Men Face Accusations Of Trespass At Women's Clinic

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Three men were arrested Saturday after being accused of trespassing at a women's health care clinic in White Plains.

City of White Plains Police Chief Joseph Castelli said William Goodman and Christopher Moscinski were charged with third-degree criminal trespass, a misdemeanor. Matthew Connolly was charged with trespass, a violation.

Castelli did not immediately respond to a request for information about where the men reside.

The men were released pending a court appearance, the Journal News reported.

According to the Facebook page of Red Rose Rescue, an anti-abortion organization, "a nonviolent direct action intervention" was conducted Saturday by the group at the All Women's Health & Medical Services facility on Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains.

Goodman was quoted in the Facebook post saying, "We stayed inside the building to be faithful patient advocates for the moms and their tiny little ones in the womb … in conscience, we could not leave while innocent people were in harm's way."

The organization said there were 10 women, two Catholic priests, a Franciscan brother and seven "laymen" taking part in the intervention.

LifeNet, the online journal of the Hudson Valley Coalition for Life, said five or six people entered the clinic around 8:30 a.m. and the police arrived at 8:47 a.m.

No arrests were made until after 10:15 a.m., LifeNet said.

"They appeared to be not pushing the issue and were perhaps hoping to talk the three people inside into just leaving," the online journal said.

Catherine Lederer-Plaskett, president of Choice Matters, whose mission is to ensure all women have unimpeded access to reproductive health care, told Patch that, around 8:30 a.m., a woman who was not a patient of the clinic was allowed in the building and she let two men in. They went upstairs, and when it was clear they weren't there for any medical purpose, the clinic's administrator called the police.

Another woman pretending to be a patient was allowed in and let another man in, she said.

Lederer-Plaskett said the men were not stopped from approaching patients and talking to them about abortion until later.

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah issued a statement Wednesday that her office and law enforcement partners are investigating the incident.

She said investigators are looking at whether individuals illegally interfered with patients receiving access to medical care.

Rocah said the New York State Clinic Access Act gives patients and staff the right to be free from force, threats of force or physical obstruction when trying to obtain or provide reproductive health care.

"Criminal conduct which interferes with the rights of Westchester County residents to freely access healthcare is serious, and will be, if appropriate, prosecuted to the fullest extent possible," she said.

In May 2012, the Westchester Board of Legislators passed a clinic access bill by a party-line 10-7 vote, but it was vetoed by then-County Executive Rob Astorino. Two Republicans switching votes would have been necessary to override the veto.

Lederer-Plaskett said her organization is working on ways to protect clinics and patients' access to them.

"What this must have done to the women in the waiting room," she said. "This was a medical facility and the people had a right to be there."