A shocking new report from the Trump administration has revealed the degree to which the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) weaponized the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act against pro-life Americans – and violated their First Amendment rights in the process.
The new bombshell document, which runs nearly 900 pages and is accompanied by more than 800 pages of exhibits, gives official weight to what conservatives and pro-life advocates argued for years: federal authorities targeted sidewalk counselors, prayer volunteers, elderly activists, and other nonviolent demonstrators with striking zeal. Meanwhile, violent attacks on pregnancy resource centers were virtually ignored, even following a wave of hostility toward them in the wake of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
One day before the report’s release, Trump DOJ officials fired at least four prosecutors linked to weaponized enforcement of the FACE Act. Among those removed was longtime Civil Rights Division lawyer and National Task Force director Sanjay Patel. Other reported dismissals included Sunita Doddamani and Frances Carlson. According to CBS News and statements from the department, the firings were aimed at personnel “responsible for weaponizing the FACE Act” who still remained at DOJ.
Compiled by DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group after reviewing roughly 700,000 internal records, the report paints a picture of one-sided enforcement of a law that ostensibly was written to protect both abortion facilities and pro-life pregnancy centers. Biden-era prosecutors allegedly worked closely with pro-abortion groups, monitored pro-life activists’ speech and travel before charges were filed, and in many cases crossed basic moral and ethical lines.
The report also alleges that prosecutors withheld material relevant to defenses, attempted to screen jurors based on religion, and authorized showy arrests for nonviolent defendants who could have surrendered voluntarily. The transparent purpose of these efforts was to strike fear in pro-life activists and dissuade them from publicly advocating for the unborn.
Many Americans undoubtedly remember the infamous 2022 raid on the home of Mark Houck, a pro-life activist in Pennsylvania. Houck had been praying outside an abortion clinic when a pro-abortion activist began shouting and hurling expletives at Houck’s young son. When the activist aggressively moved toward Houck’s son, Houck intervened and shoved the activist to the ground.
The incident should have ended there – with a father defending his son from a deranged leftist. Instead, the Biden FBI ordered a dawn raid on Houck’s home, terrorizing Houck’s wife and children, pointing guns in their faces, and hauling off the father of seven in handcuffs. Houck faced up to 11 years in prison but was ultimately acquitted on all counts by a jury in 2023.
Houck’s story captured the attention of the nation, but DOJ’s report proves that it was hardly unique. Other pro-life activists faced the same astonishingly hostile treatment.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated in strong terms that such weaponized prosecutions were wrong and must never be repeated. “This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” he said. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs.” Blanche added that the weaponization that occurred under the Biden administration “will not happen again.”
According to the report and supporting exhibits, federal prosecutors worked closely with groups such as the National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood, and the Feminist Majority Foundation. DOJ says those organizations provided information on pro-life activists, including personal details, travel information, and online activity that was used to support investigations and enforcement decisions.
In one example highlighted in materials released alongside the report, Sanjay Patel contacted the National Abortion Federation about an evangelical activist’s family travel plans before charges were filed. Records additionally show Patel offering to assist the group with a grant application while handling related matters.
The report also describes conduct that goes well beyond a mere dispute over enforcement priorities. The picture that emerges is prosecutors treating pro-life defendants not as citizens entitled to equal protection under the law, but as ideological targets.
Internal communications described in the report include complaints about a “very Catholic” magistrate judge and other indications of open hostility toward religious Americans – specifically Christians. Assistant Attorney General Daniel Burrows called the conduct “shameful,” saying lawyers who should have known better allowed the department to become “the enforcement arm of pro-abortion special interests.”
According to DOJ, Biden-era prosecutors requested an average sentence of 26.8 months for pro-life defendants, compared with 12.3 months for pro-abortion defendants who had allegedly violated the FACE Act. That disparity alone strongly supports the allegation that the law was enforced with intentional malice toward pro-lifers while violent pro-abortion defendants got treated with kid gloves.
As the report notes, the FACE Act was enacted in 1994 as a neutral public-order statute, not as a one-way instrument to punish one side of the abortion debate while shielding the other.
The report further reveals how the Biden DOJ downplayed or ignored attacks on pregnancy resource centers even as it devoted significant attention to abortion clinic cases. While Biden officials claimed they were enforcing the law without bias, in reality they were sorting cases according to ideology in order to target enforcement against those they disagreed with. Meanwhile, horrific attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches went largely unpunished.
The Trump administration began reversing that approach almost immediately. Just days after taking office in January 2025, President Trump granted full pardons to 23 pro-lifers convicted under the FACE Act. Since then, the department has dropped several related civil actions against pro-life defendants and issued new guidance directing that future cases under the law move forward only in extraordinary circumstances or where significant aggravating factors are present.
The implications stretch beyond abortion politics. Conservative Americans have long alleged that liberals weaponize government power against their political opponents in a way that Republicans do not. This most recent round of revelations is perhaps the strongest vindication yet of that point of view – and a reminder of why protecting Americans from this two-tiered system of justice must remain a top priority for the GOP.
Sarah Katherine Sisk is a proud Hillsdale College alumna and a master’s student in economics at George Mason University. You can follow her on X @SKSisk76.
