Texas Rep. Chip Roy (R) is urging his colleagues to vote before year end or in early January on the repeal of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. While Republicans might have enough votes — and will have a trifecta as of January — it is unclear whether they have the requisite will.
"We're after the election now, so I feel like we ought to put it out there this year. Go ahead and vote on it," Roy told the Daily Signal, "so that more Americans can’t get persecuted."
The FACE Act, ratified by President Bill Clinton in 1994, is supposed to protect access to churches and abortion facilities but has been weaponized by the Biden Department of Justice to lock up peaceful pro-life protesters, such as Paulette Harlow, 75; Jean Marshall, 74; Joan Bell, 76; John Hinshaw, 69; Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising director of activism Lauren Handy; and 89-year-old concentration camp survivor Eva Edl.
According to the legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, "the DOJ brought at least 26 charges against pro-life individuals under the FACE Act in 2022. What were the total number of charges against abortion activists who obstructed or vandalized pro-life pregnancy centers in the wake of the Dobbs decision that year? Zero."
'Free Americans should never live in fear of their government targeting them because of their beliefs.'
The DOJ continued its lopsided application of the law the following year, revealing an institutional commitment to holding pro-lifers to a different standard from their violent counterparts.
The Daily Caller reported in July that from 1994 to 2024, there were 205 cases brought under the FACE Act against pro-life activists and only six brought against abortion activists; 55 of those cases were prosecuted during the Biden administration, only five of which reportedly concerned attacks on pregnancy resource centers.
Months after urging the House Appropriations Committee to bar the use of taxpayer funds for the enforcement of the FACE Act, Rep. Roy introduced legislation in September 2023 that would repeal the law. The FACE Act Repeal Act of 2023 found 47 sponsors in the House. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) subsequently introduced a companion bill in the U.S. Senate.
Roy stated at the time, "Free Americans should never live in fear of their government targeting them because of their beliefs. Yet Biden's Department of Justice has brazenly weaponized the FACE Act against normal, everyday Americans across the political spectrum, simply because they are pro-life."
"Our Constitution separates power between the federal government and the states for a reason, and we ignore that safeguard at our own peril," continued the Texas congressman. "The FACE Act is an unconstitutional federal takeover of state police powers; it must be repealed."
'Republicans are going to have to get the nerve to actually stand up.'
Lee noted in an X thread earlier this year, "The FACE Act criminalizes an odd assortment of offenses, including blocking access to and vandalizing (1) abortion clinics, (2) places of worship, and (3) pregnancy centers. How many prosecutions has Team Biden brought in the second category? Zero. Not even one."
"The FACE Act, it seems, is being used by DOJ to punish pro-life protesters but not their pro-abortion counterparts," wrote Lee. "In enacting the FACE Act, moreover, Congress relied on now difficult-to-defend readings of both the Commerce Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment. I suspect most of the Republicans who voted for the FACE Act in 1994 would've voted differently had they anticipated the one-sided manner in which it would be enforced by DOJ."
Roy, who has repeatedly called for the the House GOP to take up his bill in the months since, told the Daily Signal this week, "Obviously, we need to move the bill forward, and it would be critical because of what we're seeing with respect to the persecution of Americans being put in jail."
"I think with the trifecta, we should be able to pass it," said Roy. "We should bring it forward. But look, Republicans are going to have to get the nerve to actually stand up for both free speech and life."
Although it is up to lawmakers to axe the FACE Act, President-elect Donald Trump suggested in a June 22 speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition that he will pardon peaceful pro-life activists such as Paulette Harlow upon taking office.
In May, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton-appointed judge who chastised a nun for daring to make the sign of the cross in court, sentenced Harlow to 24 months in prison. Harlow, an elderly woman suffering from a debilitating medical condition, was among the pro-life activists convicted for blocking access on Oct. 22, 2020, to the Washington Surgi-Clinic, operated by the late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo.
“Paulette is one of many peaceful pro-lifers who Joe Biden has rounded up, sometimes with SWAT teams, and thrown them in jail," said Trump. "Many people are in jail over this. … We're going to get that taken care of immediately — [on the] first day."
Trump noted further that upon taking office, his administration would "rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner who's unjustly victimized by the Biden regime, including Paulette, so we can get them out of the gulags and back to their families where they belong."
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Weaponization of the government’s power against its opponents and even its own citizens has been steadily growing worse and for a reason.
FBI whistleblower Steve Friend is well aware as to why that is.
“To set the foundation for it, you have to go back to Barack Obama assuming office in 2009. So, a Kamala Harris presidency would mean 20 years. That’s an entire government career, a full generation of hiring that has gone across every single agency,” Friend tells Steve Deace of “The Steve Deace Show.”
“Now you have 20 years of ideologies,” he continues, adding, “and that’s how you’re getting things like McDonald's the other day, who had one franchise allow him to do one photo opportunity and then we had an E. coli breakout, CDC all over that one, and then the United States senators accusing them of price gouging and driving the stock share price down.”
Not only did the government jump at the chance to punish McDonald’s for allowing a photo op with a political opponent, but citizens across the country have fallen victim to the FACE Act.
“In the Biden administration, it’s been applied more than any other presidential administration in history,” Friend explains. “92% application towards pro-lifers, not people who were subject to fire bombings at their crisis pregnancy centers.”
“People do not know exactly the powers that are at their fingertips,” Friend continues. “They have the ability to have an assessment from the Patriot Act, which means that they can open up an investigation on any American for an articulable purpose. Don’t need probable cause of a crime.”
Deace is rightfully disturbed.
“In other words, you’re describing investigations in search of crimes. Not criminal investigations, but investigations in search of crimes. That’s what you’re describing,” Deace says.
“Find me a man, and I’ll show you the crime,” Friend agrees.
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A pro-life mom has reported to prison after being convicted of violating a law protecting access to abortion clinics.
33-year-old Bevelyn Williams was sentenced in July to 41 months in prison for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinics Act over several instances during which she prevented patients of entering abortion clinics. She was convicted of misdemeanor criminal trespass.
'Biden's Department of Justice has brazenly weaponized the FACE Act against normal, everyday Americans across the political spectrum, simply because they are pro-life.'
"Biden/Harris administration has made my husband a single father today," wrote Williams on the X platform Wednesday. "I am on my way to turn myself into federal prison where I am scheduled to serve three years in federal prison for unlawful assembly. Share this and make mothers and fathers of this nation aware of what's going on!"
A statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office said that Williams "repeatedly intimidated and interfered with individuals seeking and providing critical reproductive health services" by use of physical force and threats of violence against the staff. They cited an incident in 2020 where Williams injured the hand of a clinic volunteer and also a livestream she posted during which she said she would "terrorize" the clinic.
Conservatives have accused Democrats and especially the Biden administration of using the FACE Act to target pro-life and Christian activists for unjust prosecution and imprisonment.
“The Biden DOJ has weaponized this constitutionally suspect law against pro-life sidewalk counselors while failing to protect pregnancy centers and churches from violent attacks,” said Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Texas in 2023.
“Free Americans should never live in fear of their government targeting them because of their beliefs," said Republican Sen. Chip Roy of Texas. "Yet, Biden's Department of Justice has brazenly weaponized the FACE Act against normal, everyday Americans across the political spectrum, simply because they are pro-life. Our Constitution separates power between the federal government and the states for a reason, and we ignore that safeguard at our own peril."
Williams has opened a GiveSendGo account for donations to help her cause.
"I was persecuted as a Christian standing for my beliefs when it comes to life," wrote Williams on the page. "This is devastating news. Not only is this bond extensive for the accused crime, but she made it very clear in the courtroom that she was going to an make example out of me. The concern of being a young mother, and a stay-at-home mother, was completely disregarded."
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89-year-old Eva Edl — a survivor of Nazi invasion and a concentration camp — was recently arrested by Biden’s Department of Justice for praying and peacefully protesting outside an abortion clinic.
Edl now faces 10 years in prison for violating the FACE Act.
“What are your thoughts about what has happened to you in the past and what is happening now?” Glenn Beck asks Edl.
“Well, there really is no difference. You know, I’ve heard it said our natural mind can justify anything our evil hearts want to do,” Edl tells Glenn. “During World War II as we all know, the Nazis justified the extermination of Jews and gypsies and Slavs and other people simply by using the phrases that they’re not quite human yet, according to evolutionary theory.”
“Then, at the end of the war, when the communists came in, they decided to just say because you are of an ethnic background of a certain people group, your blood is already evil. So even if you’re a newborn baby, you are evil in itself and you have to be exterminated,” she continues.
While that was their excuse, Edl believes “the main reason for all of it was greed.”
“Right now, why are we exterminating babies? Because we’re selfish. Nothing has changed,” she says. “Evil minds just find different excuses.”
As for the sentence she faces for protesting outside an abortion clinic, Edl tells Glenn that she’s “not afraid.”
“I’m prepared to die in there,” she says. “I believe in the Lord Jesus. I have eternal life in him now, and so why would I be afraid? The main reason I’m doing what I’m doing is simply in obedience to him.”
“When I stand in front of those clinic doors, I’m just buying time for our sidewalk counselors to reach women in a calm and quiet way and touch their hearts,” she explains. “There are many that are just grateful afterwards that we were there and kept them from murdering their own babies.”
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President Joe Biden admitted on Sunday that his Department of Justice (DOJ) is “infected” by politics. It’s an admission that’s entirely true — but not for the reasons Biden thinks. Biden issued a blanket pardon for his son Hunter for “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken […]
Joe Biden claims his son Hunter was 'unfairly prosecuted' while ignoring the political persecution his own DOJ has unleashed on his opponents.
Hope was sparked this week that Trump could quell the zeal of the DOJ that has been actively pursuing pro-lifers in recent years.
Government-sanctioned disregard for life should trouble us all.
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