Trump administration halts cases against pro-lifers, strongly limits future FACE Act use

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Trump administration halts cases against pro-lifers, strongly limits future FACE Act use
The Department of Justice stopped three pending Biden-era prosecutions of pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act on Friday, with strict new requirements for future invocations of the law to prevent it from being weaponized in the next four years.



President Donald Trump
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Jan 25, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews [slightly updated - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — (Updated.) The Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) put a stop to three pending Biden-era prosecutions of pro-life activists under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act on Friday, with stringent new requirements for future invocations of the law to prevent it from being weaponized again in the next four years.

In response to this development, Dr. Monica Miller of Red Rose Rescue and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society told LifeSiteNews that her organizations are “incredibly grateful”:

We are incredibly grateful, especially grateful to God,  that this pathetic lawsuit is gone. It never should have been brought in the first place. Indeed, Red Rose Rescues do not violate the FACE Act, as Red Rose Rescuers do not physically block or interfere with anyone’s freedom of movement. (Please see redroserescue.com for information on this innovative rescue strategy.) But, under the Garland/Biden DOJ, federal prosecutors were simply bending, twisting, and broadening the language of the FACE Act to make what we did fit their perverted interpretation. If we needed to go to trial our Thomas More Society attorneys felt confident we would prevail against this unjust charge. With the dismissal of this FACE case it is the total icing on the cake, on top of Trump’s pardons of the pro-life prisoners who were convicted of violating the FACE law and the extra charge of Conspiracy to Interfere with Civil Rights, resulting in draconian years-long prison terms. Now all pro-life rescuers are free at all levels in terms of the federal prosecutions.

We look forward to the repeal of the FACE act, the worst pro abortion law next to Roe v Wade.

Enacted in 1994, the FACE Act ostensibly protects access to facilities run by both pro-life and pro-abortion organizations, including abortion facilities, pro-life pregnancy centers, and churches. However, conservatives have argued that the DOJ under the Biden administration weaponized the act to prosecute pro-life activists while only a handful of pro-abortion vandals had been arrested after a string of attacks on churches and pro-life centers in the wake of the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Among the most egregious Biden prosecutions have been 23 pro-lifers prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department for entering abortion centers and refusing to leave, and who received prison time despite several of them being elderly with medical issues. Also concerning was the case of Mark Houck, a Philadelphia pro-lifer whom the DOJ prosecuted under the FACE Act after arresting in a morning FBI raid for a physical altercation with a hostile abortion supporter that local authorities had already dismissed. Houck was acquitted in January 2023; Trump pardoned the 23 others on Thursday.

On Friday, multiple media outlets obtained a copy of a memo from Kathleen Wolfe, a supervisory official at DOJ’s Civil Rights Division (CRD). Citing President Donald Trump’s “promise of ending the weaponization of the federal government,” it directs that “future abortion-related FACE Act prosecutions and civil actions will be permitted only in extraordinary circumstances, or in cases presenting significant aggravating factors, such as death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage.” In the absence of such factors, incidents will be left to state or local law to adjudicate.

“Additionally, 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,” it says.

It also instructs prosecutors to “immediately dismiss, with prejudice,” three pending cases against pro-life activist Cal Zastrow, Matthew Connolly, and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society.

“If needed, further case-specific guidance will follow for cases in which a criminal conviction has already been obtained but in which a sentence has not yet been imposed, or in which the appeals are not yet completed, that did not present significant aggravating factors,” the memo adds.

“In all three of these cases, our attorneys have led the defense of pro-life advocates targeted by Biden’s DOJ – which had sought crushing penalties, fines, and injunctions against them, to stop them from sharing their pro-life message,” Thomas More Society executive vice president and head of litigation Peter Breen responded. “These cases should have never been brought and we are thankful to the Trump administration for righting that wrong.”

“While this handful of cases are now slated for dismissal, there is no shortage of ongoing attacks on life-affirming ministries across the country as pro-abortion states double down on anti-life policies and lawfare,” he added. “As these legal battles multiply in pro-abortion states, we will tirelessly continue to defend the entire pro-life movement.”

The Trump administration’s actions give relief to those already targeted and ensure no new federal cases will arise in the next four years, but the danger remains of a future Democrat administration using the FACE Act just as President Joe Biden did. To solve the issue, Republicans in Congress reintroduced this week a bill to simply repeal the FACE Act.

The FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025 is expected to easily pass the U.S. House of Representatives and be signed by Trump if given a chance, but before reaching the president’s desk, it will still face a challenge in the Senate, which has a Republican majority with 53 seats but requires 60 votes to pass most types of legislation.


[See also: Mike Lee introduces Senate version of House bill to repeal FACE Act]