Amidst the recent inauguration of President Donald Trump Amnesty for about 1,500 January 6 protestersAnti-abortion groups have called on the president to pardon a 76-year-old grandmother and 20 others who were jailed and prosecuted over pro-life protests under Biden's Justice Department.
one set, Thomas More Societya law firm specializing in pro-life cases, He petitioned the new president In which she outlined the legal grounds for issuing a pardon, and pointed out how President Joe Biden has abused the judicial system to target these pro-life activists.
Steve Crampton, a senior adviser at the Thomas More Society, told Fox News Digital that it is “absolutely vital” that these activists are pardoned to restore equality under the law.
““We hope that through President Trump's actions here he will restore some reason and the rule of law to the approach of the Department of Justice and the FBI, but also help move that culture back toward a culture of life rather than a culture of death,” Crampton said. “This small act on his part could, in fact, ignite a momentous movement toward restoring the respect for life in this nation that we so desperately need.”
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President Trump signed the pardons for the defendants on January 6 in the Oval Office of the White House on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)
Trump indicated several times during his campaign that he was open to pardoning some of these pro-lifers who were prosecuted under a federal law called Freedom of Access to Clinics (FACE) Act.. Activists were convicted of violations of the FACE Act for participating in various “sit-in” protests inside abortion clinics in Washington, D.C., Nashville, Detroit, Long Island, and Manhattan.
According to the Thomas More Society, The Department of Justice under Biden The FACE Act was used to increase penalties for crimes that would otherwise be simple trespassing charges. The group says Biden sought to set examples for these pro-lifers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, even though their protests inside abortion clinics were completely peaceful and without threat of violence or intimidation.
Now that Trump is back in the White House, the Thomas More Society believes he can restore justice for these 21 activists, and in doing so help restore confidence in the justice system among the American people.
““In my lifetime, I've never seen a president honor his campaign promises the way this president did. So, we very much hope he does that again in this case,” Crampton said. “And for these people who are really just the salt of the earth, they are the best kind of people to be in their communities doing good and not behind bars.”
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Lauren Handy, director of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, in Washington, D.C. on April 2, 2022. (Eric Lee for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Among the 21 activists who were tried under Biden administration Using the FACE Act, nine people are currently in prison. Many of the prisoners are elderly, three of whom, Jean Marshall, Paulette Harlow and Joan Andrews Bell, are in their seventies. The eldest is Bill, who is 76, and has seven children and seven grandchildren. She was sentenced to more than two years in prison.
One of the activists, Heather Idoni, 59, who was sentenced to two years in prison, suffered serious health difficulties and suffered a minor stroke while in prison.
The longest prison sentence went to 31 years Lorraine Handywho is currently serving a nearly five-year prison sentence for her role in organizing a 2020 sit-in protest at the Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C., that she runs. Dr. Cesar Santangelo.
Also facing prison time is Eva Edel, 89, a communist concentration camp survivor who has been active in the pro-life movement for decades.
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Anti-abortion demonstrators in front of the Supreme Court building, on the day the justices heard arguments in the Mississippi abortion rights case, in Washington, December 1, 2021. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
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“Down is up and up is down in this case,” Crampton said. “These people are people who, some of them, have adopted many children with special needs from places like Ukraine. Some of them are missionaries to China and Ukraine and the worst places on the planet, and they do their best to do good for people who need help.” These are the people who should receive the citizenship medals that President Biden is handing out to people like them George SorosWho is trying to destroy our nation.”
He continued: “We must restore the rule of law.” “Last week’s questioning of Mr. Trump’s Cabinet appointees, ironically, from the left, repeatedly points to the need not to exclude political opponents for prosecution and so on.”
“We have recently committed a lack of respect for the rule of law, which has undermined any respect for authority in general, let alone the law in particular,” he said. “So, I really think this is also a small step back toward restoring that very basic respect for the rule of law that we must have if we want America to survive.”
