President Donald Trump pardoned 23 pro-life activists Thursday who were prosecuted by the Biden Administration for peacefully protesting outside of abortion clinics.

Former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) frequently used the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act to prosecute pro-lifers, many of whom are elderly and were handed multi-year prison sentences. The pardon comes just one day before the annual March For Life in which Vice President JD Vance is set to speak.

“Twenty-Three people were prosecuted. They should not have been prosecuted,” Trump said while signing the pardon. “Many of them are elderly people. They should not have been prosecuted. This is a great honor to sign this.”

Along with prison sentences, many activists during Biden’s presidency faced fines amounting to tens of thousands of dollars. One activist was accused of “felony conspiracy against rights” and was arrested at gunpoint in front of his children after his home was raided by the FBI.

Meanwhile Biden’s DOJ let many violent and destructive attacks on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers go unprosecuted.

 

Biden was a staunch advocate for abortion during his presidency. He called the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling a “tragic error” and attempted to implement federal abortion protections despite the case. The former president also praised abortion advocates. He awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award, to former Planned Parenthood director Cecile Richards for what he said was her “courage” and fearlessness in leading America towards being “a nation of freedom” while overseeing at least 3.8 million abortions.

“President Trump’s pardon today of pro-life activists unjustly imprisoned under President Biden is a great credit to his legacy,” Tommy Valentine, director of CatholicVote’s Catholic Accountability Project, said in a statement. “We hope he will go a step further in undoing Biden’s unjust legacy by directing his Department of Justice to evenly enforce the FACE Act, for as long as it is on the books, against violent pro-abortion extremists who have been attacking pregnancy resource centers and churches for years.”

Jaryn Crouson
January 23, 2025

Featured Image Credit: Elvert BarnesElvert Barnes​_

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