Who Are the Pro-Life Protesters Trump Pardoned?

Twenty-three pro-life activists who were prosecuted for their anti-abortion activism are now exonerated after Donald Trump’s pardons Thursday. The pardons, which Trump signed on the eve of the March for Life in Washington, are a sign of solidarity from the president with the pro-life movement.

Trump told the press, “We released 23 people that were unjustly put in and having to do with pro-life. And, they will be released and they’ll be out very shortly. It was disgraceful what happened.”

But who are the pro-life activists that Trump pardoned, and why were they prosecuted?

All of the activists were prosecuted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) of 1994, a law signed by President Bill Clinton which prohibits blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic or otherwise using intimidation, trespassing and a variety of other means to make it more difficult for woman to enter an abortion clinic.

Of the 23 activists pardoned by Trump Friday, many are familiar with each other, having cooperated on protests in Washington, D.C.; Tennessee; and Michigan. Some are family members of each other, some are elderly and some are mothers.

 Here’s The Daily Signal’s breakdown of who these activists are.

Washington D.C., Abortion Clinic Protesters

Of the 23 activists who were pardoned Thursday, 10 of them participated in an October 2020 protest at the Washington Surgi-Clinic, where they locked arms to block the entrance.

Their names are: Lauren Handy, Jonathan Darnel, Jay Smith, Paula Paulette Harlow, Jean Marshall, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, William Goodman, Joan Bell, and Herb Geraghty.

Many of these protesters are elderly. 

When charged, Hinshaw was 67 years old, Bell and Harlow were 73, Marshall was 72, and Heather Idoni was 61.

Harlow, who was 75 at the time, told The Daily Signal in December of 2024 that she was confident Trump would pardon her and her fellow protesters.

“He does what he says he’s gonna do too, so that’s one of the reasons I trust him,” she said. “I like when somebody does what they say they’re gonna do.”

Mount Juliet, Tennessee Protesters

Ten of those pardoned Thursday were prosecuted for protesting at the Carafem Health Center clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee in March 2021.

Their names are: Heather Idoni, Chester Gallagher, Calvin Zastrow, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow, Coleman Boyd, Paul Vaughn, Dennis Green, Eva Edl, and Paul Place.

The protesters formed a blockade in this suburban Nashville setting, blocking the path of women seeking abortions.

Thomas More Society Attorney Steve Crampton said shortly after the conviction of six Mount Juliet protestors that it “was a peaceful demonstration by entirely peaceable citizens—filled with prayer, hymn-singing, and worship-oriented toward persuading expecting mothers not to abort their babies.”

Among the convictions drawing the most outrage in this case is that of Eva Edl, an 89-year-old survivor of a concentration camp who blocked the hallway of the clinic. 

Facing 11 years in prison shortly before her 89th birthday, Edl spoke to The Daily Signal last April.

Edl told The Daily Signal that her experience of oppression in Eastern Europe informed her desire to oppose abortion.

“What if citizens of my country would have overcome their fear, and a number of them stood on those railroad tracks between the gate of the entrance to the death camp and the train? The train would have to stop.”

Michigan Holiness Revival Tour

Seven of the pardoned activists participated in the “Michigan Holiness Revival Tour.” Many were involved in the cases previously mentioned.

Their names are: Chester Gallagher, Calvin Zastrow, Eva Edl, Eva Zastrow, Caroline Davis, Joel Curry, and Justin Phillips.

These activists were prosecuted for an August 2020 blockade of an abortion clinic in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

The travelling protest group was organized by Rev. Cal Zastrow, and per a Department of Justice press release, followed “the express purpose of blockading a reproductive health clinic during the second week of the tour.”

Bevelyn Beatty Williams

This mother from Tennessee was convicted in February of 2022 for protesting at an abortion clinics in Manhattan and Florida. Williams was sentenced to 41 months in prison, with prosecutors citing her statements that she would “terrorize this place,” as well as for “crushing” an individual’s hand as she leaned against a door to block it.

Williams posted “Im HOME!” to X in celebration of her release Friday, with a now-viral video of her greeting her daughter after a long time of incarceration.

Christopher Moscinski

Moscinski, a Franciscan friar, received a six-month prison sentence in 2023 for his September 2022 protest at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Hempstead, New York.

According to a U.S. Attorney’s office, Moscinski “fastened several padlocks and bicycle locks to the gated entrance of the health center, rendering the entrance impassable. Some of the locks had glue poured into them.” The friar later laid across the entrance. 

Trump’s pardons introduce a friendlier relationship between the White House and the pro-life movement, a far cry from the Biden administration Department of Justice’s regular prosecution of activists who protested at abortion clinics.

This new relationship was on full display Friday, with Trump providing a video message to attendees at the March for Life, telling the audience, “In my second term, we will again stand proudly for families and for life.”

Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, also delivered a pro-life speech at the rally.

“No longer will the federal government direct FBI raids on the homes of people like Mark Houck and other Catholic and Christian activists who are fighting for the unborn every single day,” said Vance.

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