President Joe Biden's Justice Department charged eight pro-life activists for an incident outside an abortion clinic in Michigan in 2020.
The eight people were indicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), who was reportedly "engaging in a civil rights conspiracy" and violated the FACE Act by blocking the entrance of the Northland Family Planning Clinic, which performs abortions.
According to the indictment, the group "did willfully combine, conspire, and agree with one another, and with persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to oppress and intimidate patients and employees of the NFPC in the free exercise and enjoyment of the rights and privileges secured to them by the laws of the United States, namely, the rights to obtain reproductive health services."
The FACE Act makes it a federal crime to use or threaten to use force to "injure, intimidate, or interfere" with a person seeking reproductive health services. Convictions of FACE Act violations carry up to 11 years in prison and up to $350,000 in fines.
According to the DOJ, the pro-life activists physically interfered with employees and patients from entering the facility at the Sterling Heights clinic.
The DOJ also alleges that one of the people from the group advertised their "blockade" on social media while live-streaming the incident.
This is just one of many attempts by Biden's DOJ to attack pro-lifers. The escalation of enforcement of the FACE Act has surged since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Earlier this year, Mark Houck, a pro-lifer and Catholic father of seven, was acquitted of charges against him after allegedly pushing a Planned Parenthood escort outside an abortion clinic in 2021.
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His attorney, Peter Breen, argued that Houck's arrest was an "outrageous abuse of power," arguing that the DOJ was out to punish and intimidate pro-life activists.
Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, condemned the DOJ for not holding those who vandalized pro-life centers and Catholic Churches responsible for their actions and how they treat pro-life activists.
"The shame is that they have no interest in equally pursuing pro-abortion domestic criminals that have vandalized and desecrated hundreds of churches and pregnancy care centers. The Department of Justice should not play favorites when enforcing the law, yet that seems to be the new policy," Burch said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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