The Trump administration ordered federal prosecutors on Friday to limit their enforcement of a law banning the blocking of reproductive health clinic entrances, arguing that the rule has been used to target conservatives.
Prosecutions and civil actions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act or “FACE Act” will only be allowed under “extraordinary circumstances” or in cases where ”significant aggravating factors” are present, Justice Department chief of staff Chad Mizelle wrote in a memo to DOJ employees.
“President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise of ending the weaponization of the federal government and has recently directed all federal departments and agencies to identify and correct the past weaponization of law enforcement,” read Mizelle’s memo, according to the Associated Press.
“To many Americans, prosecutions and civil actions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (‘FACE Act’) have been the prototypical example of this weaponization. And with good reason,” he added.
Mizelle, who served as acting general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s first term, noted that “more than 100 crisis pregnancy centers, pro-life organizations, and churches were attacked in the immediate aftermath” of the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade – but virtually every FACE Act case has been against pro-life activists.
In his memo, the DOJ chief of staff also ordered the dismissal of three civil FACE Act cases stemming from obstruction of abortion clinic entrances in Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Ohio back in 2021.
In the Pennsylvania case, a man was charged under the FACE Act after he allegedly barricaded himself in the restroom of Philadelphia Planned Parenthood facility.
Mizelle’s announcement coincided with the March for Life in Washington, DC, an annual gathering of pro-life supporters.
“We will again stand proudly for families and for life,” Trump told the pro-life rally-goers on Friday, in a pre-recorded message.
Vice President JD Vance, who attended the rally in person, argued that the US had “failed a generation” by celebrating abortion access and not aiding young couples with the tools they need to support a family.
“Our society has failed to recognize the obligation that one generation has to another is a core part of living in a society to begin with. So let me say, very simply, I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vance declared.
On Thursday, Trump pardoned several pro-life activists convicted under the FACE Act of blockading abortion clinic entrances.
“Twenty-three people were prosecuted who should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people. They should not have been prosecuted,” the president said of the pardoned individuals.
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