The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, signed by Bill Clinton, was enacted to protect abortion clinics and their staff from violent pro-life activists. 
Instead, after Roe v Wade was overturned, the enraged Biden administration brazenly used to law to target and prosecute peaceful pro-life activists across the country.
In fact, just three days into his second term, President Donald Trump pardoned 23 protesters arrested for FACE Act violations during Biden’s presidency.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) earlier this year reintroduced legislation calling for the repeal of the FACE Act.
“Americans just spent the last four years being targeted by a weaponized justice system. The FACE Act was one of the primary weapons of abuse — being used to politically target, arrest, and jail pro-life Americans for speaking out and standing up for life,” Roy said. “But importantly, we in Congress need to do our part to eliminate the laws used for the weaponization, including the FACE Act.”
FACE Act used to charge pro-lifers
Department of Justice data compiled by Roy’s staff shows that 97% of FACE Act prosecutions from 1994-2024 were against pro-life Americans.
“Now that we have a Republican trifecta in the House, Senate, and White House, Congress should move quickly to repeal this law and ensure that no future president can weaponize it against pro-lifers ever again,” Roy said.
The repeal hasn’t happened yet.
“The pro-life movement is grateful for President Trump’s decisive action to pardon the FACE Act prisoners. These pro-life Americans were unjustly targeted by the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice for their efforts to protect the most vulnerable in our society: unborn human beings.
“Congress must do its part to support President Trump’s effort to end the weaponization of government by repealing the FACE Act in its entirety,” writes pro-life non-profit Advancing American Freedom to the Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee.
The Trump administration is “going gangbusters,” but progress ends on Capitol Hill, Jonah Wendt, the policy advisor for Advancing American Freedom, said on American Family Radio Tuesday.
“They’ve got to be making permanent what President Trump is doing because if the next election comes around and Democrats win, everything we saw the Biden administration do in terms of weaponization of government, opening up the border, that’s all going to happen again unless you actually change the law,” he told show host Jenna Ellis.
Republicans also have to put up guard rails for the future, Wendt said. Executive orders are only as good as the office holder, and the clock is ticking on Trump’s final term.
The velocity of pursuit of his America First agenda has lit a fire under Democrats who eagerly await an opportunity to reverse his accomplishments, Wendt said.
“You can’t believe for one minute that if they take back power they won’t immediately go back to throwing every pro-lifer they can find in a paddy wagon. If you do not repeal the FACE Act, it sits there on the books just waiting for the next Democrat administration to come in and once again weaponize it against the pro-life Americans,” he said.
In addition to AFA, co-signatories to the letter include Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America; Family Research Council; FRC Action; Concerned Women for America LAC; Students for Life Action; Catholic Vote, Americans United for Life; The Thomas Moore Society; Liberty Counsel, and Human Life Condition.
Where does the repeal effort stand?
“Chip Roy is really championing the bill. It's his bill. He's led it for years. This is an issue he cares deeply about. He's been championing it in the House,” Wendt said.
But the letter was necessary. It serves to encourage Republicans on the committee, letting them know the breadth of pro-life voices behind them.
Some Republicans in swing districts need that encouragement.
“Planned Parenthood spends, I think, $500 billion a year on elections. A lot of members are concerned that’s going to get dropped on them (with the idea) they support all sorts of heinous things simply because they support repealing the FACE Act,” Wendt said.
It also is a chance for the pro-life movement to present a united front.
“It's no secret the pro-life movement has been a little shattered over the past year, and there's been questions like what strategies to pursue, but on the FACE Act, the pro-life movement is unified,” Wendt said.
The repeal of the FACE Act is not an issue that should divide Republicans.
“It’s got to go. This is an easy win. It’s a weaponized law. How many Americans think the FBI should show up on somebody’s door stop just because they’re pro-life?” Wendt asked.
Mark Houck, a pro-life activist and father of seven was arrested at his home with a show of force that included roughly 25 federal and state agents with about 15 vehicles, Houck’s wife, Ryan-Marie Houck, told Catholic News Agency.
Houck was arrested on two counts of violating the FACE Act, the 2021 arrests stemming from incidents outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic where he was a long-time pro-life sidewalk counselor.
The front-door show of force could only have been unleashed to prove a political point. Houck's attorneys had already told prosecutors that their client would peacefully show up in court to hear his charges if indicted.
Eventually, Houck's case made it before a Philadelphia jury. He was acquitted within an hour.
In the case of pro-life activists in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, activists lined the hallways of a medical office building that included the entrance to the Carafem abortion clinic.
During that protest, a “rescue” that was filmed and livestreamed by the group, the protesters prayed and sang hymns, and listened to Bible teaching.
Mount Juliet police that day charged 11 protesters with trespassing, a misdemeanor.
Later, they were charged by the DOJ with conspiracy against rights, a FACE Act violation.
Six were convicted, their sentences ranging from eight months up to three years for 89-year-old Eva Edl.
All were pardoned by Trump.
“The United States has a rich history of civil disobedience. That's generally speaking what these people are doing who've been arrested for the FACE Act. If you don't repeal the law, it will come back to bite us again,” Wendt said.
