The protesters were convicted for blocking the entrances of abortion clinics.
President Donald Trump has pardoned 23 pro-life demonstrators who were convicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, commonly referred to as the FACE Act.
“Twenty-three people were prosecuted. They should not have been prosecuted,” Trump told reporters while signing the series of pardons on Jan. 23.
“Many of them are elderly people. They should not have been prosecuted. This is a great honor to sign this.”
Trump said it was “ridiculous” that some of the 23 protesters were in prison.
Those pardoned included 10 protesters who were convicted over an October 2020 demonstration at a Washington abortion clinic.
Lauren Handy was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for organizing the protest, during which demonstrators linked themselves together with chains to block the clinic’s doors.
Trump pardoned Handy and her co-defendants: Jonathan Darnel of Virginia; Jay Smith, John Hinshaw, and William Goodman, all of New York; Joan Bell of New Jersey; Paulette Harlow and Jean Marshall, both of Massachusetts; Heather Idoni of Michigan; and Herb Geraghty of Pennsylvania.
Several pro-life organizations had appealed to Trump on the pro-life advocates’ behalf, holding that they had been politically targeted by the Biden administration. Among those groups was the Thomas More Society, which celebrated the news of the pardons in a statement.
“Today is a new day for the pardoned pro-life advocates who have suffered FBI raids, federal prosecutions, and severe punishment for peacefully and courageously witnessing for life,” said Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive vice president and head of litigation,” the group said.
“We thank President Trump for keeping his promise to these pro-life mothers, fathers, grandparents, pastors, and priests.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
“There is no question these prosecutions were political,” Dannenfelser said in a statement. “Even ex-FBI director Chris Wray admits the overwhelming majority of abortion-related threats and violence since Dobbs is directed at pro-life Americans—not done by them. We look forward to the end of Biden’s anti-life discrimination under Attorney General Pam Bondi.”
