Trump Should Pardon Pro-Lifers Convicted Under FACE Act Before March for Life

In his first 24 hours in office, President Donald Trump pardoned the more than 1,500 Americans charged with crimes in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol protest.

But 10 pro-lifers, convicted for praying outside abortion clinics and pleading with women to choose life for their unborn babies, continue to await a presidential pardon from their jail cells.

During the four years of the Biden-Harris administration, the Justice Department brought criminal or civil cases under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances, or FACE, Act against at least 50 pro-life advocates. Twenty-one were convicted and 10 are incarcerated. Three were imprisoned and released.

Trump indicated he would pardon these pro-lifers quickly upon assuming office.

“Many people are in jail over this,” Trump said in June at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference. “We’re going to get that taken care of immediately [on the] first day.”

Yet Lauren Handy, 31; Herb Geraghty, 28; Joan Bell, 76; Jean Marshall, 77; Jonathan Darnell, 43; Heather Idoni, 60; William Goodman, 55; John Hinshaw, 70; Calvin Zastrow, 64; and Bevelyn Beatty Williams, 33, remain in prison away from their spouses, children, and grandchildren.

When Trump said he would pardon people like Paulette Harlow, a 75-year-old grandmother on house arrest with chronic health conditions, he gave them and their families hope.

Trump’s decision appears imminent, according to The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan and Leif Le Mahieu. They reported Thursday that Trump will issue pardons “within days.” He should pardon them as soon as possible so the pro-life movement can celebrate this great victory at Friday’s 52nd March for Life.

Many of these sacrificial “convicts” have told The Daily Signal they are confident Trump will make good on his promise to pardon them, and God will use their incarceration for his glory in the meantime.

“He does what he says he’s gonna do too, so that’s one of the reasons I trust him,” Harlow told The Daily Signal in December. “I like when somebody does what they say they’re gonna do.”

“We are thankful that God has stirred the president to pardon those unjustly punished for Jan. 6 and to quickly dismantle the wickedness of DEI and the transgender agenda in our federal government,” Coleman Boyd, who was sentenced to house arrest for a FACE violation, told The Daily Signal on Wednesday. “We trust God to to accomplish what is needful on our behalf.”

Every day that goes by is another day Bevelyn Williams spends away from her 2-year-old daughter, another day between John Hinshaw meeting his two grandchildren who were born while he was behind bars, another day William Goodman can’t get sufficient medical attention for his skull fracture concussion from falling out of his bunk bed.

The Thomas More Society, which represents many of the FACE Act victims, officially requested a presidential pardon for the 21 convicted pro-lifers on Jan. 15.

Trump, whose three first-term Supreme Court appointments helped overturn Roe v. Wade, would further cement his legacy as the “most pro-life president in history” by acting immediately to pardon all 21 convicted pro-lifers.

While 10 pro-lifers await their release from jail, 11 more pray for pardons from house arrest. Some who have yet to be sentenced could still be sent to jail, and a pardon would take that possibility off the table.

For instance, 89-year-old Holocaust survivor Eva Edl’s sentence in Michigan is pending. Trump’s pardon would ensure the woman who survived a World War II concentration camp in Yugoslavia does not die in an American prison.

Paul Vaughn was subjected to a SWAT-style FBI raid of his home in October 2022 in front of his wife and 11 children. He later was charged under the FACE Act and another federal statute called “Conspiracy Against Rights.”

Vaughn is currently on house arrest. For pro-lifers like him, the process of being targeted by the DOJ is the worst punishment. After years of legal battles, Vaughn’s family deserves to be set free from government supervision, a constant reminder of the traumatic and unjustified raid on their home.

Regardless of the outcome, the pro-lifers will have peace and hope due to their faith in Jesus. While their ultimate reward for their efforts to save unborn babies is in heaven, Trump possesses the power to immediately free these faithful Americans so they can return to their families, churches, and pro-life work.

“We are resting and rejoicing in the Lord to suffer for His name’s sake as felons and even in prison if it means saving babies and preaching the Gospel,” Boyd told The Daily Signal. “We will continue to labor toward that end.”

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, both Republicans, are leading the charge in Congress to repeal the FACE Act so it can’t be weaponized against pro-lifers in future Democrat administrations. Ninety-seven percent of FACE Act prosecutions between the years of 1994-2024 were initiated against pro-life Americans.

When, Lord willing, that bill comes to Trump’s desk, he would make sure not another person is punished for pro-life advocacy.

But nothing is more urgent than freeing the pro-lifers who have sacrificed their lives and freedom for the unborn, so they can go back to what they do best: sharing the Gospel and saving babies.

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