{"id":2393490,"date":"2025-01-21T20:45:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T01:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/anti-abortion-advocates-ramp-up-pardon-calls-to-trump-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-01-21T20:46:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T01:46:18","slug":"anti-abortion-advocates-ramp-up-pardon-calls-to-trump-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/anti-abortion-advocates-ramp-up-pardon-calls-to-trump-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-abortion advocates ramp up pardon calls to Trump &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fanti-abortion-advocates-ramp-up-pardon-calls-to-trump-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2393490&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the renewed calls \u2064for clemency for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/americans-remember-the-48th-annual-march-for-life\/\" title=\"Americans remember the 48th annual March for Life\">anti-abortion activists<\/a> \u200dafter President Donald Trump overlooked them during \u2064his Day One pardons, which benefitted over 1,200\u2062 individuals associated with the \u2063January 6 Capitol riot.Advocates, including the Thomas More society and Senator \u2063Josh Hawley, are\u200d urging for the pardons of nearly two dozen defendants convicted under the Freedom of Access \u200dto Clinic Entrances \u200d(FACE) Act, which prohibits obstructing abortion clinics and related establishments. The uptick in \u200cFACE Act prosecutions under President Joe Biden has disproportionately affected anti-abortion activists, leading \u2063to concerns\u2063 that these \u2062prosecutions are overly harsh and politically motivated. Notably, Lauren handy, a well-known anti-abortion activist, is \u200dserving a\u200b nearly \u200cfive-year sentence\u2064 for \u2063violations\u2063 of\u2064 the FACE Act. The article highlights the \u2063growing tension\u200b around abortion rights amidst political and legal debates in the U.S.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Anti-abortion advocates ramp up pardon calls after Trump&rsquo;s Day One clemency snub<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1941241\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>President&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a>&nbsp;granted pardons on his first day in office to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3293179\/trump-announces-mass-clemency-pardons-january-6-defendants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hundreds<\/a>&nbsp;of criminal defendants, but he left out anti-abortion protesters who were charged with Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act violations, sparking renewed calls for their clemency.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Advocates and lawmakers called on Tuesday for immediate pardons for nearly two dozen defendants convicted under the FACE Act after Trump granted clemency the prior evening to the more than 1,200 who were convicted of violent and nonviolent offenses related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Biden&rsquo;s peaceful pro-life prisoners need to be pardoned!&rdquo; said the Thomas More Society, a legal group that has represented many of the defendants.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) wrote that &ldquo;they deserve to be free.&rdquo; LifeNews.com said the defendants should be pardoned &ldquo;immediately.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The FACE Act, passed in 1994, makes it a federal crime to obstruct abortion clinics, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">anti-abortion pregnancy counseling centers<\/a> and churches. Under President Joe Biden, FACE Act prosecutions&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2573000\/abortion-opponents-see-sharp-rise-in-face-act-charges-under-biden-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">multiplied<\/a>&nbsp;and were directed almost entirely at anti-abortion activists.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, eight lawyers from the Thomas More Society&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomasmoresociety.org\/news\/thomas-more-society-petitions-president-trump-to-pardon-21-pro-lifers-targeted-by-biden-doj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;to Trump seeking clemency for 21 of their FACE Act clients, whose prosecutions they said were &ldquo;fatally flawed.&rdquo; The lawyers observed that the Biden administration&rsquo;s Justice Department coupled FACE Act charges, which often result in no more than one year in prison for first-time offenders, with conspiracy charges, which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The FACE Act was expressly limited at its enactment, and its prescribed penalties were supposed to be sharply circumscribed&mdash;the Biden DOJ thus flagrantly violated Congress&rsquo;s intent in its pursuit of the prosecutions here,&rdquo; the lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8203;&#8203;Lauren Handy, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/anti-abortion-activist-arrested-by-fbi-challenges-centrist-republican-for-house-seat\/\" title=\"FBI arrests anti-abortion activist running against centrist Republican for House seat.\">prominent anti-abortion activist<\/a> and one of the Thomas More Society&rsquo;s clients seeking a pardon, is serving out a nearly five-year prison sentence in Tallahassee, Florida, after she was convicted by a jury in 2023 of a FACE Act violation and conspiracy against rights.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">FILE &ndash; Staff with the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, Kristin Turner, of San Francisco, left, Lauren Handy, of Washington, and Caroline Smith, of Washington, right, demonstrate against abortion pills outside of the Supreme Court, Friday, April 21, 2023, ahead of an abortion pill announcement by the court in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Handy organized a blockade at an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C., during which defendants pushed their way into the facility and used chains, bike locks, and ropes to obstruct patients from entering for more than two hours. The defendants prevented a woman experiencing labor pains from accessing the clinic and caused a nurse to fall and sprain her ankle.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Handy, the Thomas More Society has advocated pardons for most of the other defendants in the case after they&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3024975\/activists-blocked-dc-abortion-clinic-combined-23-years-prison\/\">received<\/a>&nbsp;a combined 23 years in prison for the incident.<\/p>\n<p>The group also urged Trump to pardon activist Bevelyn Williams, who was sentenced to more than three years in prison last year after she&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdny\/pr\/tennessee-woman-sentenced-41-months-prison-violating-freedom-access-clinic-entrances\">carried out<\/a>&nbsp;a forceful blockade at a Manhattan abortion clinic, crushing a woman&rsquo;s hand in a door in the process.<\/p>\n<p>Williams&rsquo;s husband lamented the absence of a pardon for his wife but said he remained hopeful that she would receive one.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The timing may not be our timing but it will happen,&rdquo; he&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MrRickeyVictory\/status\/1881710061342343671\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;in a statement on X on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Advocates have also called for a pardon for Eva Edl, an anti-abortion activist and Yugoslavian concentration camp survivor who was 89 years old when she was convicted under the FACE Act last year.<\/p>\n<p>Erin Hawley, senior counsel for the religious legal advocacy firm Alliance Defending Freedom, told the&nbsp;<em>Washington Examiner<\/em>&nbsp;that the FACE act &ldquo;was completely weaponized by the Biden DOJ.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;President Trump issued a sweeping pardon of the Jan. 6 defendants, and ADF will be requesting that he pardon the pro-life advocates who were selectively prosecuted under the FACE,&rdquo; said Erin Hawley, who is married to the senator.<\/p>\n<p>Erin Hawley has been instrumental in abortion policy litigation, assisting ADF in&nbsp;<em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women&rsquo;s Health Organization&nbsp;<\/em>in 2022 that ultimately overturned&nbsp;<em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> and arguing last year before the Supreme Court to overturn the Food and Drug Administration&rsquo;s deregulatory actions on the abortion drug mifepristone.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In September 2023, Trump&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rev.com\/transcripts\/donald-trump-speaks-to-the-pray-vote-stand-summit-on-9-15-23-transcript\">said<\/a>&nbsp;that shortly after taking office he would &ldquo;appoint a special task force to rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner who&rsquo;s been unjustly persecuted by the Biden administration.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Erin Hawley said she is &ldquo;hopeful that it will be a week-one priority&rdquo; for Trump to issue these pardons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1941241\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1941241\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anti-abortion advocates intensify calls for pardons after Trump\u2019s clemency omission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3633,"featured_media":2393493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP25017642331007.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[9537,6017,48970,3634,32076],"class_list":["post-2393490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-anti-abortion","tag-advocacy","tag-pardon-calls","tag-trump","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP25017642331007.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2393490"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2393495,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393490\/revisions\/2393495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2393493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2393490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2393490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2393490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}