WASHINGTON — A federal judge denied an anti-abortion activist’s request to join a humanitarian mission to Ukraine this week – ordering her to stay in the country in advance of a hearing for her felony case in D.C.
Heather Idoni, 61, was among nine anti-abortion activists indicted earlier this month for conspiracy against rights for blockading a D.C. abortion clinic in October 2020. One of Idoni’s co-defendants, Lauren Handy, was at the center of a whirlwind of news coverage the same day the indictment was unsealed when police found five fetuses at her Capitol Hill home. Idoni, who lives in Michigan, wasn’t involved with the discovery.
Last week, Idoni’s attorney, Peter Cooper, filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to allow his client to travel to the border of Moldova and Ukraine for approximately two weeks to join a humanitarian mission. Cooper said Idoni was an “integral part” of the mission and noted one of her adopted sons lives in Ukraine.
“The Defendant is personally serving as an interpreter due to her knowledge of the Russian language and previous travel experiences in the area,” Cooper wrote. “She has made roughly a dozen trips to Ukraine between 2014 and 2019 as she and her husband have legally adopted 10 sons from different areas of Ukraine during these years.”
Cooper said the plan was for Idoni and others to bring supplies for hospitals and refugees fleeing the ongoing Russian assault on the country. In the Ukrainian city of Mariupol alone, officials have estimated as many as 10,000 civilians have been killed. President Joe Biden and other international leaders have condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin and accused him and the Russian military of war crimes.
Idoni was ordered to surrender her passport earlier this month following her arrest and is required to obtain the court’s permission for any travel outside the continental U.S. She’s also barred from entering reproductive health clinics except for personal medical appointments.
Last week, and again on Tuesday, Kollar-Kotelly denied Idoni’s request for travel.
“Although Defendant’s commitment to volunteerism is admirable, given that a status hearing in this case is set for April 29, 2022 and given the serious felony charge Defendant Idoni faces in this case, it is hereby ordered that Defendant Idoni’s motion to permit international travel is denied,” the judge wrote.
On Wednesday, Idoni told WUSA9 she was planning one final appeal to Kollar-Kotelly in a personal letter. She said her flight was scheduled to leave Wednesday evening, and that, despite the judge’s order, she had “packed for it in faith.”
Restrictions on travel are a normal part of release conditions even where no bond is required, but judges can and do allow exceptions. Last year, attorney Kira Anne West successfully petitioned U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan to allow her client Alex Harkrider – currently under indictment on multiple felony charges stemming from the Capitol riot, including allegedly entering the building with a tomahawk – to travel to Louisiana to work as a relief volunteer following Hurricane Ida.
In another Capitol riot case, U.S. District Judge Thomas McFadden controversially allowed Texas realtor Jenny Cudd to travel to Riviera Maya, Mexico, for a “work-related bonding retreat.” Cudd’s attorneys, Farheena Siddiqui and Marina Medvin, argued she was compliant with her terms of release and was an “established member of her community.” At the time, Cudd was also indicted on a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding. She later pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building and was sentenced to two months of probation and a $5,000 fine.
Judges haven’t signed off on every travel request for Capitol riot defendants, however. In January, Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell denied a request by Anthony Williams, of Michigan, to travel to Jamaica to visit his girlfriend’s family.
Idoni and her nine co-defendants were due back in court for a status hearing before Kollar-Kotelly on April 29.