President Trump Pardons 23 Peaceful Pro-Life Protesters

President Donald J. Trump pardoned 23 pro-life activists who were convicted for peacefully protesting at abortion clinics. The protesters were unjustly prosecuted, with some sentenced to jail time, under the Biden administration.

The pardons come just one day before the National March for Life, held annually in Washington, D.C.

The president signed the pardons from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. “Twenty-three people were prosecuted. They should not have been prosecuted,” the president remarked, adding,

Many of them are elderly people. They should not have been prosecuted. This is a great honor to sign this.

“They’ll be very happy,” the president commented.

President Trump then asked a White House aid whether the protesters are still in prison. After the aid replied that some of them are, the president replied, “Ridiculous.”

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly reacted to President Trump’s signing of the pardons:

We applaud President Donald Trump’s decision to extend to them full pardons, acknowledging that every American has a right to peacefully express their deeply held convictions concerning the sanctity of life.

You can watch the signing of the pardons below:

Pro-life activist Lila Rose quickly posted about the pardons on X:

Earlier this month, the Thomas More Society submitted to the Trump Administration formal requests for presidential pardons on behalf of 21 pro-life advocates, who have now been pardoned: Joan Bell, Coleman Boyd, Joel Curry, Jonathan Darnel, Eva Edl, Chester Gallagher, William Goodman, Dennis Green, Lauren Handy, Paulette Harlow, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, Jean Marshall, Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, Justin Phillips, Paul Place, Paul Vaughn, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, Calvin Zastrow, Eva Zastrow, and James Zastrow.

“Today, freedom rings in our great nation,” reacted Steve Crampton, Thomas More Society Senior Counsel.

“The heroic peaceful pro-lifers unjustly imprisoned by Biden’s Justice Department will now be freed and able to return home to their families, eat a family meal, and enjoy the freedom that should have never been taken from them in the first place.”

Under the Biden administration, the Department of Justice used the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act to prosecute peaceful pro-life protesters. The DOJ prosecuted at least 50 pro-life advocates. Twenty-one were convicted and ten are incarcerated.

At the same time, the Biden administration essentially ignored violent pro-abortion criminals who attacked hundreds of pregnancy resource centers and churches after the leak of the draft Dobbs opinion in May 2022.

In a subcommittee hearing examining the weaponization of the FACE Act back in December, Rep. Chip Roy recounted,

Since the start of the Biden-Harris administration, until May 2024, the DOJ had brought 24 FACE Act cases against 55 defendants, with only two of these cases concerning attacks on pregnancy resources centers. To this day, the FACE Act has never been used in defense of a church.

Back in June 2024, President Trump promised to free jailed pro-life protesters if reelected. In a speech before the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Trump specifically mentioned the case of 75-year-old Paulette Harlow.

“Paulette is one of many peaceful pro-lifers who Joe Biden has rounded up, sometimes with SWAT teams, and thrown them in jail,” Trump said. “Many people are in jail over this. … We’re going to get that taken care of immediately.”

Focus President Jim Daly said, “The fates of the 23 peaceful pro-life protestors arrested and jailed have been heavy on our hearts,” adding,

These individuals were targeted and the FACE Act weaponized against them for exercising their First Amendment rights.
These pardons right a moral wrong and hopefully make clear that our Constitution protects a right to peaceful protest.

We rejoice for the pro-life supporters who have been pardoned, and we thank President Trump for keeping his promise and reestablishing equal justice under law.

Related articles and resources:

Trump Urged to Pardon 21 Pro-Life Activists Convicted Under Biden

Pam Bondi Pledges to End ‘Partisan Weaponization’ of Department of Justice

House Subcommittee Examines Weaponization of FACE Act Against Pro-Life Supporters

Pro-Life Grandmother Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Abortion Clinic Protest

Alleged Criminal Abortionist Goes Free While Pro-Life Activists Sentenced to Prison

Why is the Left Suddenly Vandalizing Churches and Pro-Life Organizations?

300 Attacks on Catholic Churches – In Less Than 3 Years; 82 Attacks on Pregnancy Resource Centers – In Less Than a Year

Photo from Getty Images.

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