Former President Donald Trump is set to issue pardons for pro-life activists who have been incarcerated by the Biden Justice Department, as reported on Wednesday. Sources familiar with the situation informed The Daily Wire that addressing the circumstances of these activists is a top priority for Trump’s team, with pardons anticipated in the coming days.
This announcement coincides with the upcoming 52nd annual March for Life, a significant peaceful demonstration in Washington, D.C., aimed at raising awareness about the lives lost to abortion. It is expected that the president will deliver a message to the rally via a pre-recorded video.
On Monday, Trump enacted a comprehensive executive order that granted full pardons to around 1,500 individuals involved in the January 6 Capitol riot, fulfilling a major campaign promise to counter what he described as politically motivated prosecutions by the Biden administration. His recent actions have generated hope within the pro-life community that he will extend similar pardons to those activists prosecuted under the Biden Justice Department’s enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, according to The Daily Wire.
“I hope President Trump will soon pardon the pro-life prisoners unjustly targeted and imprisoned by the Biden Administration,” Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri expressed on “X” on Wednesday. “They deserve to be free.”
Additionally, The Daily Signal reported that Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) has reintroduced a bill aimed at repealing the FACE Act. “While President Trump is halting these unjust prosecutions, we must ensure that no future administration can persecute Americans through the unequal application of the law,” Lee stated.
In the House, Republican Representative Chip Roy of Texas introduced a companion bill on Tuesday, emphasizing the need for Republicans to leverage their control of Congress and the White House, as noted by The Daily Wire.
During his campaign, Trump consistently criticized the Biden Department of Justice for allegedly targeting pro-life advocates with “outrageous charges.” He pledged to conduct a swift review of the cases involving individuals he deemed political prisoners, asserting the need to liberate them from what he referred to as “gulags” and reunite them with their families.
The proposed pardons would offer immediate relief to those currently incarcerated, including individuals such as Lauren Handy (57 months), John Hinshaw (21 months), Jonathan Darnell (34 months), Herb Geraghty (27 months), Jean Marshall (24 months), Joan Bell (27 months), Paulette Harlow (24 months), Bevelyn Williams (41 months), Heather Idoni (24 months), and Calvin Zastrow (6 months), as reported by the DW.
The publication noted that these defendants were arrested, tried, and convicted for their participation in pro-life demonstrations in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Tennessee. The protest in D.C. involved a group of pro-life activists who, in October 2020, assembled at the Surgi-Clinic, a facility providing late-term abortions. They engaged in singing hymns, praying, linking arms at the entrance, and using ropes and chains to obstruct access to the building. In Tennessee, pro-life Christians gathered outside the Carafem Health Center in Mt. Juliet in March 2021, where they similarly sang hymns, prayed, and encouraged women to reconsider their abortion decisions.
Many of the defendants have already spent over a year in prison, with several facing additional months of incarceration. “I would love to be home with my family,” expressed 59-year-old Heather Idoni in September. She received a two-year sentence for her involvement in the D.C. protest and an additional eight months to be served concurrently for her actions during the Nashville protest, according to the DW.
The pardons would also extend relief to those awaiting sentencing, including 89-year-old Eva Edl. A survivor of a concentration camp from World War II-era Yugoslavia, Edl was convicted in Detroit on charges related to the FACE Act and a felony conspiracy charge, and she now faces the prospect of further legal consequences.
