The Justice Department is targeting more pro-life activists using a controversial law.
On Monday, the DOJ announced a lawsuit against two pro-life organizations, Citizens for a Pro Life Society and Red Rose Rescue, and seven pro-life activists — Laura Gies, Lauren Handy, Clara McDonald, Monica Miller, Christopher Moscinski, Jay Smith, and Audrey Whipple — on allegations they violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act nearly three years ago.
‘It’s ridiculous that Biden’s Justice Department is going after pro-life Americans but letting criminals and dangerous illegal aliens roam free on the streets.’
The FACE Act is a controversial law that President Joe Biden’s DOJ is using to target mostly pro-life activists.
The allegations
The lawsuit claims the defendants engaged in physical obstruction at two Ohio abortion clinics on June 4, 2021, and June 5, 2021.
In the first incident, the defendants allegedly entered the clinic’s waiting room and encouraged pregnant women not to get abortions. The lawsuit claims the defendants refused to leave when asked. Police eventually arrived and physically removed the pro-life activists from the waiting room.
The lawsuit alleges the protest disrupted the clinic’s appointment schedule, forcing some women to reschedule their “surgical abortions to different days.”
In the second incident, the defendants allegedly approached abortion-seeking women in the parking lot of a Planned Parenthood surgery center and urged them not to get abortions. The lawsuit claims the defendants obstructed the clinic and cars in the parking lot and alleges the pro-life activists refused to leave when instructed by police.
Because of those alleged actions, the clinic was forced to shut down for the day, interrupting nine scheduled “surgeries,” the lawsuit says — likely a reference to abortions.
Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society and one of the defendants named in the lawsuit, disputed the government’s allegations.
“We do not use any form of physical obstruction, there is no restriction of freedom of movement for women seeking to kill their unborn children or abortion center staff,” Miller told Blaze News.
“The DOJ’s complaint totally falsifies and mischaracterized what we do!” she explained. “The rescuers simply enter the waiting room, sit down quietly and talk to the moms, offering them material assistance and of course the red roses. We feel confident that we will prevail against this bogus initiative to intimate peaceful pro-lifers trying to help moms and save the unborn from violent acts of destruction.”
The FACE Act
In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke boasted that the DOJ is “committed” to enforcing the FACE Act to protect those seeking “access to reproductive health services.”
“Obstructing people from accessing reproductive health care and physically obstructing providers from offering it are unlawful,” Clarke said. “Congress passed the FACE Act 30 years ago this month in response to acts of violence, threats of violence and physical obstruction at reproductive health clinics in our country.”
Clarke is the same DOJ official who allegedly lied under oath about her arrest record during her Senate confirmation process.
Under Clarke’s leadership, the DOJ has increased its enforcement of the FACE Act since the repeal of Roe v. Wade, mainly targeting pro-lifers, the Daily Signal reported. Dozens of pregnancy centers and more than 200 churches have been targeted since the repeal of Roe, yet the DOJ has charged only a handful of people for FACE Act violations in those crimes.
Clarke, who is pro-abortion, believes pregnancy centers, which offer women solutions other than abortion, are “harmful,” “predatory,” and “fake,” according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Exactly how often the FACE Act is being used remains unknown because the DOJ is not turning over that data.
The apparent selective enforcement of the FACE Act is exactly why Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) are fighting back against Biden’s DOJ and the FACE Act.
“It’s time to repeal the FACE Act,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told Blaze News.
“This is yet another example of the Biden administration weaponizing a constitutionally suspect law against pro-life sidewalk counselors while failing to protect pregnancy centers and churches from violent attacks,” Lee said of the DOJ’s newest lawsuit. “Pro-life activists are being given vastly disproportionate sentences for minor offenses, while arsonists and left-wing rioters go free.”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), moreover, said the DOJ’s latest action is yet another example of “Biden’s two-tiered justice system.”
“It’s ridiculous that Biden’s Justice Department is going after pro-life Americans but letting criminals and dangerous illegal aliens roam free on the streets,” Roy told Blaze News. “This is just another case of Biden’s two-tiered justice system that prefers going after former presidents, parents, and anyone who disagrees with their radical progressive Democrat agenda rather than imprisoning real criminals.
“House Republicans must repeal the FACE Act immediately and stop Biden’s pro-abortion crusade,” he urged.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!