Woman Gets Five Years for Threat to Abortion Pill Case Judge

A federal judge in Dallas sentenced a California woman to five years in prison for threatening the federal judge who ruled to restrict the abortion medication mifepristone.

US District Judge Ada Brown sentenced Dolly Patterson on Tuesday, according to court documents. It was the maximum sentence allowed under the statute, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said in a press release.

Patterson pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce. Prosecutors said she sent a message over the court’s help line, “Tell this anti-abortion judge he needs to watch his back—and ...