WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s new Justice Division management issued an order Friday to curtail prosecutions towards folks accused of blocking reproductive rights services, calling the instances an instance of the “weaponization” of legislation enforcement.
Justice Division chief of employees Chad Mizelle stated in a memo that prosecutions and civil actions underneath the Freedom of Entry to Clinic Entrances Act or “FACE Act” will now be permitted solely in “extraordinary circumstances” or in instances presenting ”vital aggravating components.”
Mizelle additionally ordered the instant dismissal of three civil FACE Act instances associated to 2021 blockades of clinics in Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Ohio. One man was accused of acquiring “unlawful entry to a safe affected person area at a Deliberate Parenthood facility in Philadelphia with out employees permission or information” and barricading himself in a restroom, in accordance with court docket papers.
“President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise of ending the weaponization of the federal authorities and has just lately directed all federal departments and companies to determine and proper the previous weaponization of legislation enforcement,” Mizelle wrote within the memo obtained by The Related Press.
“To many People, prosecutions and civil actions underneath the Freedom of Entry to Clinic Entrances Act (‘FACE Act’) have been the prototypical instance of this weaponization. And with good purpose,” he wrote.
The announcement comes hours after Trump vowed to help tens of 1000’s of anti-abortion protesters at Friday’s March for Life, declaring, “We are going to once more stand proudly for households and for all times” in a prerecorded handle.
Vice President JD Vance, who spoke to the group in particular person, celebrated pardons for FACE Act defendants and known as Trump “probably the most pro-life American president of our lifetimes.”
A day earlier, Trump pardoned a number of anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances in violation of the FACE Act, which is designed to guard abortion clinics from obstruction and threats.
Mizelle wrote that “greater than 100 disaster being pregnant facilities, pro-life organizations, and church buildings have been attacked within the instant aftermath” of the U.S. Supreme Court docket ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. But, practically the entire prosecutions underneath the FACE Act have been towards anti-abortion protesters, he wrote.
Copyright 2025 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials might not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
