The Department of Justice released an 882-page report on April 14 accusing the Biden administration of selectively prosecuting pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The report comes more than a year after former President Donald Trump pardoned 23 individuals convicted under the FACE Act and after the Justice Department announced it would limit such prosecutions.
The findings have renewed debate over how federal law is enforced in cases involving abortion rights and anti-abortion activism. The report claims that collaborations between abortion rights organizations and federal prosecutors led to targeted investigations against pro-life advocates, raising questions about fairness in legal proceedings.
According to the report, emails from Justice Department prosecutor Sanjay Patel show coordination with Michelle Davidson, security director at the National Abortion Federation (NAF), including sharing information about activists and incidents at clinics. “This department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “No department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.” The Thomas More Society, which advocated for pardons for many activists, said the report “vindicates what (the society) argued in courtrooms and in the media for years: that federal prosecutors selectively pursued pro-life advocates while giving the abortion lobby an open line to drive enforcement decisions.”
Critics disputed these findings. Kristen Clarke, former assistant attorney general for civil rights at DOJ, said: “We enforced the law even-handedly and put public safety at the center of this work” to address “the real violence, threats of violence, and obstruction that too many people face in our country when it comes to reproductive health care.”
The DOJ began using a designated task force more frequently after Roe v. Wade was overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022. At least 26 charges were brought against pro-life individuals under FACE Act provisions that year.
Following Trump’s pardons, DOJ announced stricter criteria for future prosecutions—reserving them for extraordinary circumstances or cases involving serious harm or property damage—and dropped three civil lawsuits against pro-life activists.
The broader implications touch on ongoing national debates about access to reproductive health care facilities and protest activities near those sites. As scrutiny continues over past enforcement practices highlighted by this new DOJ report, both sides are likely to keep pressing their arguments as policies evolve.
