The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office stated Thursday that a Los Angeles man is facing various charges after prosecutors believe he was part of a group of anti-abortion activists who targeted a women’s health facility and stalked a doctor who provides abortion services.

Prosecutors said in a press release that Aaron Jonathan Hurley is suspected of taking part in a clinic invasion and vandalising a statue of the Madonna and Child with fake blood at the San Francisco General Hospital.

According to Rachel Marshall, a spokesman for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, Hurley pleaded not guilty to charges of stalking and threatening an abortion physician during a court hearing in San Francisco on Thursday.

Hurley, a Los Angeles resident, was freed on the condition that he not approach the doctor. If Hurley returns to San Francisco, his lawyer must notify the DA’s office.

According to Marshall, the judge dismissed the DA’s request for electronic monitoring.

He’ll be back in court on June 13 for a pre-trial hearing.

Following a leaked draught of a Supreme Court majority ruling that might overturn Roe v. Wade, which protects a legal right to abortion, abortion clinics and doctors who deliver abortions have under renewed scrutiny. Votes and phrasing in opinions may alter before an official ruling is issued, which is expected in late June. However, the draft’s release has campaigners on all sides of the abortion debate bracing for a future in which abortion rights are left to state legislatures.

Even if Roe is overturned, the right to an abortion in California is maintained by state law until the foetus is judged viable and the procedure is essential for the patient’s health.

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