Get a free copy of Parental Rights & Education when you subscribe to our newsletter!
After three years of seeing the U.S. Department of Justice weaponized to cruelly target and jail Christians for engaging in their First Amendment right to protest abortion, true justice has finally returned to our nation.
President Donald Trump signed an order earlier today pardoning 23 pro-life activists who were prosecuted by the Biden administration under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Trump solemnly stated, “They should not have been prosecuted. This is a great honor to sign this.”
Those pardoned include Joan Bell, Coleman Boyd, Joel Curry, Jonathan Darnel, Eva Edl, Chester Gallagher, William Goodman, Dennis Green, Lauren Handy, Paulette Harlow, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, Jean Marshall, Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, Justin Phillips, Paul Place, Paul Vaughn, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, Calvin Zastrow, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow, and Bevelyn Beatty Williams.
Trump pointed out that many of those prosecuted were elderly. Some of them had been charged for their involvement in multiple peaceful protests.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Joe Biden drew criticism for its controversial and intentional targeting of pro-life protesters under the FACE Act as it enthusiastically pursued charges against largely peaceful pro-life activists but was slow to pursue charges against violent pro-abortion activists whose targets are also protected by the FACE Act.
The administration stepped up its targeting of pro-life protesters after the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health in 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the right to make abortion law to states.
Ten pro-lifers were convicted under the FACE Act for a 2021 protest in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. The protest was a peaceful sit-in, but the DOJ said that the protesters were obstructing access to the clinic.
Paul Vaughn, Chet Gallagher, Coleman Boyd, Heather Idoni, Cal Zastrow, and Dennis Green were all convicted of conspiracy charges under the FACE Act, which carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison plus a $250,000 fine.
Eva Edl, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow, and Paul Place were charged with a misdemeanor.
Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Joel Curry, Justin Phillips, and Carl and Eva Zastrow, and 89-year-old concentration camp survivor Eva Edl were charged and convicted under the FACE Act for a protest at a Michigan abortion clinic that the DOJ claimed was violent. The activists claim it was a peaceful protest in which they never entered the building and sat on the sidewalk praying, singing hymns, and encouraging women to keep their babies.
Lauren Handy, Joan Bell, Jean Marshall, Jonathan Darnel, Paulette Harlow, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, William Goodman, and Herb Geraghty were convicted for a protest of the Washington Surgi-Clinic in October 2020 in Washington, D.C.
None of them were charged for the protest until Handy notified police in March 2022 that she had obtained the remains of five fetuses that Handy believed had been killed in late-term abortions that violated federal law.
The same day she notified police, the FBI showed up and arrested Handy for the protest in 2020.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Handy to 57 months in prison while Harlow was sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by 36 months of supervised release. Hinshaw was given 21 months in prison; Goodman, Bell, and Geraghty were given 27 months in prison, Darnel 34 months, and Marshall 24 months.
Kollar-Kotelly and the DOJ accused pro-lifers of being engaged in a “crime of violence” while the activists again argued that no violence occurred and that it was a peaceful sit-in where they sang hymns, prayed, and tried to encourage women to choose life for their babies.
Another pro-lifer who was pardoned is Bevelyn Beatty Williams, a 33-year-old wife and mother who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for blocking an abortion clinic in New York City in 2020.
The DOJ’s prosecution drew sharp opposition from many pro-life politicians and organizations, as well as calls for the repeal of the FACE Act.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, have twice proposed bills that would repeal the FACE Act.
Lee called the pardons, “A victory for people of faith and the rule of law in America. Unjust & unequal application of the FACE Act against Pro Life activists stops under President Trump.”
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, one of the strongest critics of the Biden DOJ’s prosecution of pro-lifers, had earlier in the day delivered a passionate plea for Trump to “provide, once again, the moral clarity and the moral leadership for which this country is known” by pardoning the pro-lifers.
He reacted to the news of the pardons with a one-word post: “JUSTICE”
Thomas More Society, which represented many of the protesters in their legal cases and filed pardon requests on behalf of 21 of the protesters, responded to the pardon by saying, “THANK YOU @POTUS@realDonaldTrump for pardoning the peaceful pro-lifers targeted, prosecuted, and many jailed, by Biden’s DOJ!”
Tomorrow is the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., where tens of thousands will attend to draw attention to the ongoing horror of abortion, to pray for children, women, and families impacted by it, and to advocate for life.
Vice President J.D. Vance will provide the keynote speech, while President Trump is expected to speak via a video message.
For the last few years, we have written extensively about the Biden administration’s weaponization of the DOJ against peaceful pro-lifers and the apathy showed in protecting pro-life organizations and churches targeted by pro-abortion terrorists. We lamented the miscarriage of justice that the DOJ would target and jail peaceful protesters whose only desire was to save children, even as it largely ignored pro-abortion activists and their violent attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches.
Now justice has returned to our nation and these pro-lifers are free again. We thank President Trump for pardoning these victims of biased and targeted prosecution. We also thank all those who worked for their cause.
Over the last few years we have also asked the question: Should the FACE Act be repealed? Arson, vandalism, harassment, trespassing, and acts of violence are already crimes. The entire reason the FACE Act was passed was to stop pro-life protesters from protesting. If these people truly believe a child is being murdered through abortion — and that’s exactly what happens — shouldn’t they have the right to pray and sing hymns at a clinic or to talk to women about their other options?
As pro-lifer Paulette Harlow, 76, countered when Judge Kollar-Kotelly accused her of being uncompassionate towards pregnant women during her sentencing:
“We were there because we are compassionate. We do care, and we love them. It’s despicable that in this country we have pregnant women and we can’t do anything to help them except offer to kill their child. That’s not help at all. It’s not good healthcare when one of the people involved has to die.”
Today is a day to celebrate and to thank God for this action. It is also a time to redouble our efforts to protect life and support women and children in crisis — and to continue to push for a government that fully respects the God-given right of its citizens.
If you like this article and other content that helps you apply a biblical worldview to today’s politics and culture, consider making a donation here.
