Trump Justice Dept. limits enforcement of FACE Act, which protects reproductive health facilities

Federal prosecutors have been directed to limit their enforcement of a federal law that protects abortion centers, reproductive health centers and pregnancy resource centers to violations presenting “extraordinary circumstances” or in instances when death, extreme bodily harm or significant property damage result, according to a new Department of Justice memo issued Friday and obtained by CBS News. 

The directive, written by the chief of staff to the attorney general, Chad Mizelle, focused on the Justice Department’s application of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (“FACE Act”). The law —  passed in 1994 — makes it illegal to harm, threaten or interfere with an individual “obtaining or providing reproductive health services” or damage a facility “because such facility provides reproductive health.” The act extends similar protections to places of worship and to individuals “exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.” 

According to the Justice Department memo, future FACE Act violations will mostly be left to state or local law enforcement, with exceptions for federal investigations in cases “presenting significant aggravating factors.” 

“Until further notice, no new abortion-related FACE Act actions — criminal or civil — will be permitted without authorization from the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division,” Mizelle wrote. 

The policy change comes after years of criticism by President Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill, who have argued the FACE Act was disproportionately enforced against anti-abortion activists during the Biden administration. The memo released Friday alleged a pattern that was a “prototypical example of … weaponization.” 

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Justice Department under former Attorney General Merrick Garland established a Reproductive Rights Task Force. According to a June 2024 press release, the Justice Department brought at least 25 cases against nearly 60 defendants for violations of the FACE Act during the Biden administration. Individuals were accused of targeting facilities ranging from Planned Parenthood facilities to pregnancy resource centers. 

The cases included one in which a defendant admitted to firing BB guns at a California Planned Parenthood facility on 11 different occasions between 2020 and 2021. Another California man pleaded guilty to firebombing a Planned Parenthood building with a Molotov cocktail in 2022. 

And in June, three Florida residents pleaded guilty to spraying threatening messages on multiple pregnancy resource centers.

Garland throughout his tenure at the Justice Department defended prosecutors’ enforcement of the law, but current Justice Department officials pushed back, alleging in Friday’s directive that there was “not the even-handed administration of Justice.” 

“More than 100 crisis pregnancy centers, pro-life organizations, and churches were attacked in the immediate aftermath” of the Supreme Court’s decision, Mizelle wrote, arguing some of those cases went uncharged. 

The memo was issued on the same day that abortion opponents gathered in Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life. Vice President J.D. Vance spoke at the rally, and said of the Trump administration, “No longer will our government throw pro-life protesters and activists, elderly grandparents or anybody else in prison.” 

On Thursday, Mr. Trump pardoned 10 defendants who were charged with violating the FACE Act after prosecutors said they had formed a blockade at a Washington, D.C., reproductive healthcare center in 2020. 

“They should not have been prosecuted,” the president said. 

During her Senate confirmation hearing, Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, said “The FACE Act not only protects abortion clinics, but it also protects pregnancy centers, and people going for counseling. The law should be applied evenhandedly.”