By pardoning antiabortion extremists convicted of clinic invasions and violence, Trump undermines federal protections for reproductive healthcare and paves the way for renewed chaos and fear.
Twenty-three antiabortion extremists convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) were pardoned by President Donald Trump on Thursday. The pardons place extremists responsible for invading and blockading reproductive healthcare clinics in dozens of states back on the street, inviting more violence and chaos against patients and abortion providers.
While right-wing extremists refer to these criminal defendants as “peaceful pro-life Americans … deserving of full and unconditional pardons,” abortion advocates know them for their history as leaders of campaigns of terror and for orchestrating dangerous invasions of healthcare clinics in dozens of states. The 23 individuals had previously been convicted in historic federal prosecutions.
The pardons benefit defendants of dangerous clinic invasions, such as that at the 2020 Washington, D.C., Surgi-Clinic. Unlike the propaganda delivered by right-wing media outlets of the defendants as “peaceful protestors,” duVergne Gaines, director of the Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Clinic Access Project, says that footage of the 2020 clinic invasion “depicted women desperate for care and in medically fragile situations, including fainting in the hallway, being terrorized and traumatized by extremists.”
The anticipated move is a symbol of Trump’s genuflecting to the right, and right-wing antiabortion groups are continuing to beat the drum for Congress to abolish the FACE Act. The federal law, enacted in 1994, ”prohibits violent, threatening, damaging and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain or provide reproductive health services.”
The latest efforts to repeal the law are led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who reintroduced a bill to repeal the FACE Act on Tuesday, saying it has been used to weaponize the Department of Justice. On Thursday, Trump also put a freeze on all cases within the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
The pardons—which came three days into the Trump administration and just one day before the March for Life—fulfill a campaign promise Trump made to antiabortion groups during a speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition on the campaign trail in June. Several antiabortion groups, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Students for Life, the Thomas More Society and Americans United for Life, have been lobbying Trump to issue the pardons in public and through private channels.
The Thomas More Society is a well-funded Chicago conservative Roman Catholic public interest law firm engaged in culture war issues opposing gay marriage and the 2020 election results. Lawyers from the right-wing organization sent a letter earlier this month congratulating the president on his election and asking for the release of “peaceful pro-life Americans, some of whom were unjustly imprisoned … by the Biden Administration.”
It appears Trump did not review the individual cases in depth and showed no regard for violent offenses. Trump called it “a great honor” to pardon people who “should not have been prosecuted.” Many of the defendants were serving lengthy prison sentences for orchestrating and carrying out clinic invasions that injured a nurse and terrorized both patients and healthcare providers.
Among those pardoned is Joan Andrews Bell, whom the right calls a “sweet grandmother,” a central figure for decades in the antiabortion movement with dozens of arrests for obstructing and invading reproductive healthcare clinics, including the 2020 Surgi-Clinic invasion.
Another criminal defendant, Lauren Handy was serving a nearly five-year sentence for leading the same blockade that resulted in the injury of a nurse and endangered the lives of patients. She has been arrested multiple times for her so-called activism, including serving jail time in Michigan and Virginia.
Convicted felon Calvin Zastrow, called a “pro-life grandfather” by the right-wing media, is a leader of the group Operation Save America (OSA) and was convicted in two clinic invasions in Michigan (2020) and Tennessee (2021). Court documents in Tennessee suggest that invasions “were meant to train and encourage others to carry out unlawful blockades.” Notably, other members of OSA sent a threatening letter to the judge in that case before sentencing, including violent references and discussing the overthrow of the U.S. judicial system.
Chester Gallagher was also convicted for the same invasions in Michigan and Tennessee. In Tennessee, he received a sentence of 16 months—the longer sentence of the 11 defendants indicted and convicted of violent antiabortion activity. Gallagher advertised their intentions on social media and live-streamed the blockade, further violating patients’ right to privacy and prolonged the blockade using what he learned as a law enforcement officer.
This Tuesday, Trump shut down the HHS informational website on abortion access and reproductive rights. Vice President J.D. Vance is slated to speak at the March for Life on Friday, and Trump plans to appear by video. Witht the pardons, Trump appeased his antiabortion supporters, who were becoming increasingly frustrated in recent days that he did not issue the pardons on Day 1.
