Tipsheet

Biden DOJ Continues to Use FACE Act Against Peaceful and Prayerful Pro-Life Activists

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  January 30, 2024 9:30 PM

President Joe Biden's Department of Justice (DOJ) has not just been politicized and weaponized to go after his most likely rival for the 2024 election, former and potentially future President Donald Trump, but also peaceful and prayerful pro-life activists. Six pro-lifers were found guilty on Tuesday of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, and could face 11 years in federal prison. 

Footage shared over X by Greg Price shows the activists gathering outside of the hallway outside the Carafem Health Center Clinic in Nashville, Tennessee on March 5, 2021, where they prayed, sang hymns, and urged women to go through with having an abortion. 

"FACE ACT" and "Biden's DOJ" have both been trending over X on Tuesday night.

The guilty verdict for all six defendants came on the fifth day of the trial, as The Daily Wire reported:

Those on trial included Chet Gallagher of Tennessee, Coleman Boyd of Mississippi, Heather Idoni of Michigan, Cal Zastrow of Michigan, Paul Vaughn of Tennessee, and Dennis Green of Virginia.

All six defendants were found guilty of both counts. They are expected to be sentenced in July.

The conspiracy charge can be punished with up to 10.5 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $260,000 while the FACE Act charge can lead to one year in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The verdict was delivered on the fifth day of the trial, which took place at the Fred D. Thompson courthouse in Nashville. The case was overseen by Judge Aleta Trauger, appointed to the court in 1998 by then-President Bill Clinton.

These six are among the co-defendants whose plight Mia covered at the time they were charged in October 2022. She similarly highlighted the terrifying force the FBI used when arresting one of the co-defendants, Paul Vaughn. 

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They're hardly the only defendants to be targeted by the Biden administration using the FACE Act. Last September, Mia also covered how five pro-lifers were found guilty in Washington, D.C., as she also highlighted the extreme, "mind-blowing bias" in the case. 

In 2022, the DOJ had also brought FACE Act charges against Mark Houck for an incident that occurred in October 2021, though it's also worth pointing out that charges had been dismissed by local prosecutors and he had been willing to turn himself in to authorities. Today marks one year since a jury found him not guilty. Houck has since announced he is running for Congress and that he has filed a lawsuit against the DOJ and FBI. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray defended such tactics used on defendants like Houck during a House Judiciary Committee hearing when he was being questioned by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) last July.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and now Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sent a letter to Wray in October 2022 calling out the hypocrisy and one-sidedness in the lack of arrests against violent pro-abortion extremists. And, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in August 2022, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) also questioned Wray about the lack of information on arrests made against pro-abortion individuals.

In posting about the convictions on Tuesday night, Lee reiterated such hypocrisy from "Team Biden."

Roy and Lee have both introduced legislation to repeal the FACE Act, especially in light of convictions that came down against pro-lifers last year.