FIRST ON FOX: Former Vice President Mike Pence’s nonprofit conservative coalition, American citizens Advancing Freedom (AAF), is urging Space Republicans to “finish the weaponization” of a Clinton-era regulation that they are saying unfairly goals pro-life activists.
The Freedom of Get right of entry to to Hospital Entrances (FACE) Act used to be signed into law by means of then-President Invoice Clinton in Might 1994. The FACE Act made it a federal crime to make use of drive, threats or obstruction to intrude with folks looking for or offering abortion products and services, which incorporates blocking off get admission to to clinics, threatening or the use of violence towards sufferers or hospital staff, and harmful abortion-related belongings.
In certainly one of his first movements since taking workplace, President Donald Trump pardoned just about two dozen pro-life activists who had been serving multiyear sentences for collaborating in 2020 pro-life demonstrations at abortion clinics. 3 of the ones pardoned had been aged. The Biden management’s Division of Justice (DOJ) had charged them with violating the FACE Act. Trump mentioned all the way through the pardons that the advocates “must no longer were prosecuted.”
Mike Pence’s nonprofit staff Advancing American Freedom is urging passage of a invoice to repeal the Clinton-era FACE Act, which has been used to prosecute pro-life protesters. (Getty Photographs)
“Congress should do its section to enhance President Trump’s effort to finish the weaponization of presidency by means of repealing the FACE Act in its entirety,” reads the AAF memo, despatched to Republican individuals of the Space Judiciary Committee on Thursday afternoon. “There’s no query that the Biden Management weaponized the FACE Act towards pro-life American citizens.”
“All over the Biden Management, pro-life American citizens confronted early morning SWAT crew raids, unjust jail sentences, and alleged mistreatment whilst in custody,” the memo continues.
Final month, the Space Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight held a listening to, “Coming into the Golden Age: Finishing the Weaponization of the Justice Department,” the place Peter Breen, the manager vice chairman and head of litigation on the Christian nonprofit regulation company Thomas Extra Society, testified that certainly one of his purchasers used to be matter to such SWAT raids and a long jail sentence.
President Donald Trump holds a file at the day he issued government orders and pardons for January 6 defendants within the Oval Workplace on Jan. 20, 2025. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)
“The Biden DOJ engaged in a scientific marketing campaign to abuse the ability of the government towards pro-life advocates, whilst that very same DOJ neglected loads of acts of vandalism and violence towards pro-life church buildings, being pregnant assist facilities, and different advocates,” Breen mentioned.
PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST PROSECUTED BY BIDEN DOJ REACTS TO TRUMP PARDON: ‘I WANT TO GIVE HIM A HUG’
Whilst the tide is popping in a unique path from the former management’s pro-abortion time table, conservative lawmakers at the moment are having a look on the FACE Act as the next move within the pro-life motion. In January, Trump additionally revoked two earlier government orders from the Biden management that expanded abortion products and services. The brand new order reaffirms the coverage established by means of the Hyde Modification, which prohibits using federal taxpayer bucks for optional abortions.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, re-introduced regulation in January round the similar time to repeal the regulation.
Roy’s workplace offered knowledge indicating that 97% of FACE Act prosecutions between 1994 and 2024 centered pro-life folks. He’s supported on this effort by means of 32 co-sponsors within the Space, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, announced better half regulation within the Senate.
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In 2023, a number of media retailers reported that below the Biden management, the DOJ initiated a minimum of 15 legal circumstances below the FACE Act involving roughly 46 pro-life defendants since January 2021, with sufferers in all however one case being abortion-rights supporters.
