{"id":325281,"date":"2025-01-27T06:45:27","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T12:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=325281"},"modified":"2025-01-27T14:22:26","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T20:22:26","slug":"trump-doj-limits-enforcement-face-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trump-doj-limits-enforcement-face-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump DOJ limits enforcement of FACE Act, the law that led to imprisonment of pro-lifers"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

The Trump Administration’s Department of Justice has instructed<\/a> federal prosecutors to limit the enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act \u2014 the law that led to the imprisonment of numerous pro-life activists.<\/p>\n

According to CBS News, Chad Mizele, the chief of staff to the attorney general, told prosecutors in a Friday memo to enforce the FACE Act only in “extraordinary circumstances” \u2014 such as when death, extreme bodily harm, or significant property damage occur during an act against a ‘reproductive health care’ facility, which includes abortion facilities and pregnancy resource centers. Future violations of the FACE Act will be handled by state or local law enforcement with exceptions for federal investigations in cases that include “significant aggravating factors.”<\/p>\n

“Until further notice, no new abortion-related FACE Act actions \u2014 criminal or civil \u2014 will be permitted without authorization from the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division,” Mizelle wrote.<\/p>\n

The FACE Act was first enacted in 1994 under then-President Bill Clinton. It “prohibits threats of force, obstruction and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services … or other federal criminal statutes where arson, firearms, and threats were also used.”<\/p>\n

The focus had long been on individuals who acted with violence<\/a>, not on peaceful activists. However, that\u00a0changed<\/a>\u00a0in early 2022 when\u00a0Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization<\/em> was being heard by the Supreme Court and threatened<\/span>\u00a0to overturn Roe v. Wade<\/em>. Suddenly, pro-lifers were being arrested in droves for activism that had taken place more than two years prior (much of which was not prosecuted by local authorities). These activists continued to face arrests and FBI raids for months after Roe<\/em> was ultimately overturned in June 2022.<\/p>\n

READ: President Trump pardons pro-lifers convicted of FACE Act violations under Biden administration<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Congressman Chip Roy criticized the Biden-Harris DOJ, saying, \u201c… nearly 92% of all Biden-Harris FACE Act cases were brought against pro-life demonstrators, despite over 285 churches<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a094 pregnancy resource centers and pro-life groups<\/a>\u00a0being attacked and vandalized since May 2022.\u201d Catholic Vote\u2019s\u00a0Violence Tracker<\/a> now stands at 480 Catholic churches attacked since May 2022, many of which included spray-painted pro-abortion messaging.<\/p>\n

Yet only a handful<\/a> of pro-abortion protestors have been arrested.<\/p>\n

“More than 100 crisis pregnancy centers, pro-life organizations, and churches were attacked in the immediate aftermath” of the Supreme Court’s decision, Mizelle wrote, arguing some of those cases went uncharged.<\/p>\n

The Biden Administration DOJ would later admit to targeting<\/a> pro-life activists through the FACE Act in response<\/em>\u00a0to the overturning of\u00a0Roe.<\/em>\u00a0As reported by\u00a0The Daily Signal<\/a>, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta\u00a0said in December of 2022<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0Dobbs<\/em>\u00a0increased \u201cthe urgency\u201d of the DOJ\u2019s efforts to \u2018enforce\u2019 \u201cthe FACE Act, to ensure continued lawful access to reproductive services.\u201d<\/p>\n

All but two of the arrested pro-lifers who went to trial were found guilty of violating the FACE Act, Conspiracy Against Rights<\/a>, or both, and many were sentenced<\/a> to federal prison, with the longest sentence set at just under five years<\/a>. On January 23, President Trump pardoned<\/a> 23 pro-life activists who were found guilty of violating the FACE ACT, saying, “They should not have been prosecuted.”<\/p>\n

Tell President Trump, RFK, Jr., Elon, and Vivek: <\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Stop killing America\u2019s future. Defund Planned Parenthood NOW!<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump Administration’s Department of Justice has instructed federal prosecutors to limit the enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act \u2014 the law that led to the imprisonment of numerous pro-life activists. According to CBS News, Chad Mizele, the chief of staff to the attorney general, told prosecutors in a Friday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":277361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nTrump DOJ limits enforcement of FACE Act, the law that led to imprisonment of pro-lifers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Trump Administration's DOJ has instructed federal prosecutors to limit the enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trump-doj-limits-enforcement-face-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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