Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 23, 2025 / 16:35 pm
President Donald Trump issued pardons for 23 pro-life activists on Thursday, fulfilling a promise he made during the presidential campaign.
Trump signed the pardons on Thursday in the Oval Office of the White House on the day before the March for Life to be held in Washington, D.C., according to the Thomas More Society.
Last week, the religious liberty law firm petitioned the incoming president to issue 21 individual pardons for pro-life advocates who were arrested for violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and “Conspiracy Against Rights” statute while peacefully engaging in protests at abortion clinics.
Several of those convicted and imprisoned were elderly and in poor health.
At least two times during his 2024 campaign for the presidency, Trump said he intended to release pro-life activists who are currently imprisoned.
“These peaceful pro-life Americans mistreated by [President Joe] Biden include grandparents, pastors, a Holocaust survivor, and a Catholic priest — all are selfless, sincere patriots,” the petition from the Chicago-based law firm reads.
During Biden’s four years in office, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) brought charges against more than 30 people who took part in pro-life demonstrations under the FACE Act, which was legislation in the 1990s to increase penalties for people who obstruct access to abortion clinics or pregnancy resource centers.
Although the FACE Act’s higher sentences also apply to people who obstruct or damage pro-life pregnancy centers, Biden’s DOJ only brought charges in two cases regarding attacks on those facilities despite more than 100 incidents occurring under his tenure.
“While Biden’s prosecutors almost entirely ignored the firebombing and vandalism of hundreds of pro-life churches and pregnancy centers, they viciously pursued pro-life Americans,” the petition adds.
The longest sentence was given last year to Lauren Handy, who received four years and nine months in prison for her role in a protest at an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. The second longest was also given last year to Bevelyn Beatty Williams, who received three years and five months in prison for a protest inside an abortion clinic in New York City.
Several pro-life activists in their mid-to-late 70s also received multiyear sentences for their protests.
“These 21 peaceful pro-lifers, many of whom are currently imprisoned for bravely standing up for unborn life, are upstanding citizens and pillars of their communities,” Steve Crampton, who works as senior counsel for the Thomas More Society, said in a statement.
This is a developing story.
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