Findings highlight disparities as Care Net advocates for equal protection under the law
A new report from the Department of Justice revealed that the Biden Administration may have violated the rights of pro-life Americans through its biased enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
On April 14, the Department of Justice released a review of internal discussions, case files, and prosecutorial decisions under the FACE Act, and concluded that the Biden DOJ abused its power.
“This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
The FACE Act is a federal law passed in 1994 that protects access to abortion clinics, pregnancy centers, and any organization providing reproductive health services. It prohibits the use or threat of force, physical obstruction, or property damage to interfere with individuals seeking or providing these services.
Although the report includes disturbing details for pro-life advocates, it also highlights the role of organizations like Care Net in pushing for a more balanced application of the FACE Act. Care Net engaged with officials in the Biden Administration to advocate for the law to be applied fairly and in a way that also protects pregnancy centers from vandalism and attacks. Through ongoing conversations and email exchanges with DOJ staff, the organization helped prompt revisions to the FBI’s FACE Act Resource Booklet, aiming to ensure more accurate and fair representation of life-affirming organizations.
The need for a level playing field was certainly evident during that period.
“Though the Act was supposed to protect both pro-choice and pro-life facilities, the Biden DOJ provided extensive support to abortion clinics, while ignoring and downplaying vandalism and attacks against pregnancy resource centers,” the report stated.
According to the report, the Biden DOJ pursued significantly harsher sentences for pro-life defendants than violent pro-abortion defendants. The Biden Administration requested an average sentence of 26.8 months in pro-life cases, compared to 12.3 months in pro-choice cases, including cases involving vandalism of pregnancy centers.
In an interview with Tony Perkins on Washington Watch, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) commented on the bias noted in the report.
“In case after case, the Biden DOJ went after pro-lifers and churches, while at the very same time, churches and pregnancy care centers were getting vandalized,” Hawley said. “They wouldn’t lift a finger to protect those important American institutions.”
In an email that appears in the recent DOJ report, Care Net President and CEO Roland Warren noted that “there appears to be a double standard” when comparing prison sentences for pro-life and pro-choice defendants.
“What will be done to deal with this seemingly biased application of the law?” he asked.
In an email to Sanjay Patel, former Chief of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, Roland Warren pointed to the excessive punishment of 75-year-old Paulette Harlow, who received a 24-month prison term for praying inside an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. In addition to Harlow, several other defendants in the case received sentences of two or more years.
Those concerns reflect a broader effort led by Care Net.
“This important new report from the Department of Justice highlights Care Net’s leadership in ensuring that pregnancy centers and other life-affirming organizations are protected by our nation’s laws,” said Roland Warren.
Beyond the sentencing disparities, the DOJ report also outlined several other key findings:
- The Biden DOJ collaborated with pro-abortion groups to track pro-life activists’ First Amendment activity. Pro-abortion groups capitalized on their relationship with the Biden DOJ to gain internal information and push targets for enforcement. These groups compiled evidence and dossiers that ultimately gave rise to search warrants and charges.
- The administration’s prosecutors engaged in inappropriate conduct and comments. Prosecutors knowingly withheld evidence that defense counsel requested to prepare an affirmative defense, tried to screen out jurors based on religion, and authorized aggressive arrest tactics instead of allowing pro-life defendants to self-surrender.
- The Biden DOJ helped a pro-abortion group secure funding.
“The behavior unearthed in this report is shameful,” said Assistant Attorney General Daniel Burrows, Office of Legal Policy. “Lawyers who should have known better withheld evidence, worked to keep committed religious people off juries, and generally allowed the Department of Justice to be used as the enforcement arm of pro-abortion special interests.”
In an effort to correct the injustices noted in the report, the Trump Administration, under Acting Attorney General Blanche, outlined a series of corrective actions aimed at addressing past enforcement decisions and increasing transparency moving forward. These actions include issuing pardons, settling civil cases, dismissing several lawsuits with prejudice, limiting future FACE Act prosecutions to exceptional circumstances, and reviewing hundreds of thousands of internal records, including a partial release of materials to the public.
Vincent DiCaro, Chief Outreach Officer at Care Net, said the DOJ report signals a shift toward a more just and balanced approach to FACE Act enforcement.
“This new report highlights how Care Net’s efforts have assisted the current Department of Justice in emphasizing the importance of protecting life-affirming pregnancy centers and showing how the previous Administration fell short in this regard,” he said. “We are hopeful that this report will lead to fairer application of laws designed to protect life-affirming organizations.”