“Back to their families where they belong”

One of the most enduring and crucial features of the American constitutional design is its commitment to the equal application of law. John Adams famously described the republic as “a government of laws, not of men”—meaning that, in America, the rule of law comes before politics. Yet the Biden administration broke this promise. It put politics above the rule of law and shamelessly prosecuted political enemies (like President Donald Trump) as well as ordinary citizens it disagreed with politically.

On Thursday, President Trump made good on his campaign pledge to pardon individuals who were selectively prosecuted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 and get them out of prison “and back to their families where they belong.” He pardoned 23 individuals prosecuted under the FACE Act, which is a crucial first step in returning the U.S. Department of Justice to the rule of law.

When signing the pardons, President Trump said of the 23 pro-life advocates, “They should not have been prosecuted.” He’s right. The Biden administration weaponized the FACE Act to target individuals it disagreed with.

The FACE Act protects “reproductive health services” from violence and intimidation. Congress enacted the law to protect not only abortion facilities but also pregnancy centers and churches. Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs opinion was leaked in 2022, there has been a troubling wave of violence and intimidation directed at pro-life organizations. Nearly 100 pregnancy centers have been vandalized, spray-painted, or firebombed. As for churches, the Family Research Council identified 436 incidents of violence or threats of violence against churches in 2023 alone—more than double the number reported in 2022 and eight times the reported incidents in 2018.

Yet, the Justice Department under President Joe Biden weaponized the FACE Act to target almost exclusively pro-life advocates. It brought criminal or civil cases under the law against 55 defendants, with 50 of them pro-life. Out of 24 FACE Act cases, only two were in defense of pregnancy centers. And the Biden Justice Department failed to initiate a single FACE Act prosecution to protect a house of worship. This is not the even-handed application of law the American people deserve.

In signing the pardons, President Trump mentioned that many of those sent to federal prison for peacefully protesting at abortion facilities were elderly. He’s right again. The protestors included grandparents, mothers of young children, pastors, a Holocaust survivor, and a Catholic priest.

To make matters worse, the Biden administration used the FACE Act as a hook to seek lengthy prison sentences for nonviolent protestors. They used the law as a predicate offense to tack on an additional “conspiracy against rights” felony charge. It’s not hard to see why the Justice Department pushed this novel theory of prosecution—the conspiracy charge comes with a potential 10-year prison sentence, even for nonviolent civil disobedience. This means that individuals charged under the FACE Act for completely peaceful protests are subject to prison penalties greater than 10 years.

The Biden Justice Department deployed the FACE Act in this manner against Eva Edl, an 89-year-old survivor of a Soviet concentration camp. She sat peacefully in front of the entrance to an abortion business in her wheelchair. The Justice Department charged her with violating the FACE Act. And because of the tacked-on conspiracy charge, Edl faces a sentence of up to 11 years in federal prison along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines—all for singing and praying from her wheelchair. That’s lawfare, not the rule of law. Thanks to President Trump, Edl no longer faces spending the rest of her life in federal prison.

Paul Vaughn recently testified before Congress, describing his horrifying arrest at gunpoint by an FBI SWAT team in front of his seven children. The team arrived at 7:15 in the morning—a time when his children were sure to be home. Vaughn heard shouting on his porch and the words “Open up. FBI.” He opened the door to find an automatic weapon pointed at his head. Meanwhile, another agent had detained three of his children, ages 12, 14, and 18, in the yard beside his house. All of this was for a nonviolent protest at an abortion facility more than a year prior. Vaughn, too, was among those pardoned.

To be clear, there’s never any excuse for violence in expressing one’s viewpoint. But the Biden Justice Department’s one-sided use of the FACE Act raises serious concerns about viewpoint-based selective enforcement. While the executive branch of the federal government has the discretion to decide whether to prosecute a case, it cannot selectively enforce the law in a way that violates the Constitution. That’s antithetical to a free society.

In addition to urging the Trump administration to pardon pro-life advocates, Alliance Defending Freedom, where I work, has urged Congress to repeal the FACE Act. The law has proven nearly useless in protecting pregnancy centers and churches and has been repeatedly weaponized against pro-life advocates. Plus, repealing the FACE Act would not mean that criminal conduct could occur without legal consequences. Every state has laws that regulate trespass, assault, disorderly conduct, and unlawful assembly.

But that’s a battle for another day. As the March for Life unfolds in Washington, D.C. today, celebrating that the Supreme Court has returned to the states the authority to protect life, we have another reason to be thankful. President Trump was right to pardon the nonviolent pro-life individuals who were selectively prosecuted. Many of them have already spent months, if not years, in federal prison and, in the forthcoming days, will be returned “to their families where they belong.”