Justice Department restricts prosecutions for interfering with abortion clinic access
Four days after President Donald Trump took office, the Justice Department is restricting prosecutions for interfering with access to reproductive health clinics.
In a memo obtained by Paste BN, Trump's chief of staff to the attorney general, Chad Mizelle, said the restrictions would apply to prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 law that prohibits physically interfering with someone who is getting an abortion or intentionally damaging a reproductive health care facility. The law provides similar protections for worshipers and places of worship.
Mizelle said in the memo that many Americans viewed prosecutions under the FACE Act as "the prototypical example" of a weaponized government.
"Even though more than 100 crisis pregnancy centers, pro-life organizations, and churches were attacked in the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs decision, nearly all prosecutions under the FACE Act have been against pro-life protesters," Mizelle wrote. "That is not the even-handed administration of justice."
In the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling, the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.
Mizelle said, going forward, abortion-related FACE Act prosecutions and civil lawsuits will only be permitted "in extraordinary circumstances, or in cases presenting significant aggravating factors, such as death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage."
Also on Friday, Trump pardoned 23 anti-abortion demonstrators, including people who blockaded the entrance to an abortion clinic.
In his memo, Mizelle also instructed the department to dismiss three existing FACE Act cases.