Trump Department of Justice says it will end ‘weaponization’ of FACE Act against pro-lifers

CNA Staff, Jan 27, 2025 / 16:35 pm

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) will end the “weaponization” of a federal law that led to the imprisonment of pro-life activists, according to a recent DOJ directive released on Friday. 

The DOJ will limit its enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act except in “extraordinary circumstances” such as cases involving death, injury, or serious property damage, according to a Jan. 24 memorandum by the chief of staff to the attorney general, Chad Mizelle. 

The memo went out on Friday as thousands of pro-lifers gathered in Washington, D.C., for the March for Life. On Thursday, Trump issued pardons for 23 pro-life activists imprisoned under the FACE Act, including several elderly people and a young mother. 

Established in 1994 under President Bill Clinton, the FACE Act prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.” 

While the FACE Act protects both abortion clinics and life-affirming pregnancy resource centers, the FACE Act under the Biden administration was used to prosecute a disproportionate number of pro-life activists for nonviolent offenses.

“Even though more than 100 crisis pregnancy centers, pro-life organizations, and churches were attacked in the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs decision, nearly all prosecutions under the FACE Act have been against pro-life protesters,” Mizelle wrote. “That is not the evenhanded administration of justice.”

In the memo addressed to Kathleen Wolfe, supervisory official of the Civil Rights Division, Mizelle said that local or state law enforcement will address cases that lack “significant aggravating factors.” 

“Until further notice, no new abortion-related FACE Act actions — criminal or civil — will be permitted without authorization from the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division,” Mizelle wrote. 

Mizelle also instructed the department’s civil rights division to drop three pending actions against activists involved in clinic blockades in Ohio, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. 

“President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise of ending the weaponization of the federal government and has recently directed all federal departments and agencies to identify and correct the past weaponization of law enforcement,” Mizelle wrote in the memo. “To many Americans, prosecutions and civil actions under the [FACE Act] have been the prototypical example of this weaponization. And for good reason.” 

Critics of the FACE Act have noted that the DOJ brought forward more cases at abortion clinics than at life-affirming pregnancy centers or outside churches, subjecting pro-life activists to prison time and hefty fines. For instance, in 2022, the DOJ brought at least 26 charges against pro-lifers under the FACE Act but zero against abortion activists who vandalized or obstructed pro-life pregnancy centers that year.   

Susan B. Anthony Pro-life America’s Marjorie Dannenfelser told CNA: “There is no question these prosecutions were political.” 

“President Trump has consistently taken a strong stance that weaponizing the government to go after pro-life advocates and other ideological opponents is wrong,” Dannenfelser said in a statement shared with CNA. “Even ex-FBI Director Chris Wray admits the overwhelming majority of abortion-related threats and violence since Dobbs is directed at pro-life Americans — not done by them.”

Live Action’s Nancy Flanders noted that the misuse of the FACE Act came amid the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

“The focus had long been on individuals who acted with violence, not on peaceful activists. However, that changed in early 2022 when Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was being heard by the Supreme Court and threatened to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Flanders wrote. 

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“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),” she wrote. 

During her confirmation hearing on Jan. 15, attorney general-designate Pam Bondi referenced the prosecution of pro-life protesters under the FACE Act and promised to ensure the DOJ would not be used to target pro-life demonstrators or people of any religious faith.