Alta Coffee Shop Owner: 'Nonstop Death Threats' Since Clash With Pro-Lifers

An Alta, Wyoming, man says he and his wife have received "nonstop death threats" since a confrontation with a pro-life group inside their Driggs coffee shop, Wydaho Roasters, went viral.

“You would think we're performing abortions in our shop," Jim Sheehan told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.

Sheehan suddenly found himself at the center of a national storm after a video showed him confronting Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, her four children and a group gathered for the first meeting of their new “Abortion Free Teton Valley” effort.

During a heated exchange, Sheehan defended his right to decide which groups meet at his business, asking, “If the KKK called me and asked me to host an event, would I have to do that?”

The video went viral, with the KKK comparison becoming a flashpoint.

Students for Life says Hawkins, her children and the other participants were kicked out because of their anti-abortion views. The organization says they had already purchased drinks, pastries and ice cream and were quietly meeting when Sheehan confronted them.

Sheehan tells a different story.

He acknowledges he did not want an organized anti-abortion event taking place inside his business, but says that he never kicked anyone out.

Surprise! 

Sheehan said someone contacted him Sunday after seeing a post on a Teton Valley community Facebook page advertising an Abortion Free Teton Valley event at Wydaho Roasters.

The news surprised him.

He said he found the post and responded that he and his wife "strongly support a woman's right to choose, and we would appreciate it if you would hold your event somewhere else."

There wasn't an argument or private conversation with the organizer, Sheehan said. Nor did he know Hawkins beforehand.

Wydaho frequently hosts gatherings, he said, but those events are generally coordinated with the coffee shop.

“It's a common gathering point in the community,” Sheehan said.

What bothered him was seeing the Wydaho name attached to an organized effort advocating a position he and his wife strongly oppose.

“I figured they would respect my wishes and not hold it there,” he said.

They Didn't

Sheehan said he was roasting coffee Monday when he walked into a part of the shop known as the fireplace room and found what he estimated to be 20 to 30 people gathered.

“Did I not make myself clear?” Sheehan recalled saying. “I said, ‘I would prefer you not hold this here.’”

Then a phone came out.

Students for Life claims Hawkins, her son Bear, her three other children and more than 10 local residents were “ejected” from the coffee shop despite having already purchased food and drinks.

The organization said the group was there to discuss resources for pregnant and parenting mothers and abortion-related political organizing.

As the confrontation continued, participants pointed out that Wydaho hosts other gatherings, including a Queer Coffee Hour.

Sheehan didn't dispute that.

“Yes, it's my business,” he recalled responding. “I can host what I choose to host. ... I don't have to host everything.”

Then he reached for a comparison that would soon be heard around the country.

Sheehan later told Cowboy State Daily he wasn't saying anti-abortion activists are members of the KKK.

“I, you know, unfortunately didn't think through that analogy,” he said.

Abortion Free Teton Valley

Students for Life describes itself as part of what it calls the “Pro-Life Generation,” an umbrella organization that includes Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action. The group conducts political, policy and grassroots anti-abortion organizing, with a particular focus on young voters.

It is organizing in a community where the abortion debate was already playing out publicly months before the confrontation at Wydaho.

This spring, Teton Valley abortion-rights advocates spent months gathering signatures for Idaho's Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, including outside businesses in Driggs. At the same time, signs urging Idahoans to preserve the state's abortion restrictions began appearing around Teton Valley.

The initiative has since qualified for Idaho's Nov. 3 ballot. If approved by voters, it would establish protections for private reproductive health decisions, including abortion through fetal viability and in medical emergencies.

The vote comes as Idaho remains at the center of a larger legal fight over abortion. On Friday, a federal judge blocked the state from prosecuting doctors for performing abortions necessary to protect a pregnant woman's health. 

Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador has said the state will appeal.

Hawkins said in a Students for Life statement that the new Teton Valley group's goal is to bring more services to families in the community and educate voters about the November measure.

“This was the first meeting of our brand-new Abortion Free Teton Valley group,” Hawkins said in the statement.

Students for Life published multiple stories about the encounter Monday and has continued publicizing it. 

Cowboy State Daily reached out to Hawkins on Wednesday seeking an interview about the confrontation and Sheehan's account of what happened, but did not receive a response.

Openly Liberal

Sheehan isn't backing away from his position on abortion or his decision not to allow an organized anti-abortion event at Wydaho.

He is the father of three daughters and describes his coffee shop as openly liberal.

“We fly the Pride flag,” he said. “It's not a surprise where my stance is on something like that.”

But Sheehan said he doesn't consider himself “pro-abortion.”

“I'm not saying everyone should go out and get an abortion,” he said. “I just don't think that myself as a male or the government should be involved in that decision with a woman and her doctor.”

He has friends who disagree with him about abortion, he said, and they can talk about it.

That doesn't mean he would let them organize an anti-abortion event at his coffee shop.

Even if the organizer were a friend, Sheehan said his answer would be the same.

“You know where Mary and I stand on that,” he said. “I'm not going to use our assets and try to, you know, promote that.

“This is one of those black-and-white issues for me” 

‘Right Now It's Us’

National anti-abortion and conservative outlets picked up the confrontation, with headlines saying Sheehan had kicked anti-abortion customers and children out of his business and compared them to the KKK.

Sheehan says what followed has been a barrage of calls and messages.

“We've had to turn off the phones,” he said. “We've turned off social media. We've turned off our website.”

He said both he and Mary have received death threats and have been branded “baby killers” by strangers.

“It's pretty horrific,” he said.

At home in Teton Valley, however, Sheehan said the reaction has been markedly different.

“We're getting a lot of support from the community,” he said. “But this went national.”

Sheehan expects the furor will eventually fade as the internet turns its attention somewhere else.

“They will have the next person they want to go harass,” he said.

“But right now it's us.”

Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.