GOP lawmakers continue push to repeal FACE Act

Congressional lawmakers are ramping up their efforts to repeal the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

The FACE Act makes it a federal crime “to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone” who provides abortion services. Although this Clinton-era law also protects pregnancy centers and churches, it was originally intended to protect abortion. The Biden administration weaponized the law almost exclusively to protect abortion centers, and federal prosecutors often stretched it to cover Americans who so much as peacefully protest abortion. Taxpayers charged with the FACE Act have been subjected to violent raids by the FBI, similar to those visited on the January 6th hostages. 

The DOJ memo

In January, the Trump DOJ issued a memo limiting federal prosecution under the FACE Act. The law will now only apply to “extraordinary circumstances” or cases involving “death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage.” The memo also stated that prosecution of abortion-related FACE Act violations will require special authorization from the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

The FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025

Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers introduced legislation to repeal the FACE Act. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced H.R. 589, also known as the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025, while Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced a companion bill in the Senate. On Wednesday, the FACE Act Repeal Act will go through the markup process, which means committees will analyze the legislation and determine whether it should be recommended to the full House plenary.

“Over the past 4 years, we have witnessed the weaponization of the justice system, using the FACE Act to jail Americans fighting for the right to life,” Rep. Roy told The Daily Wire. “It is not enough to merely end Biden-Harris era discrimination — we must act to reverse course, ensuring selective and unfair political prosecutions are never again possible under this statute.” The law would protect Americans even if a new president were to reverse President Trump's executive order.

No FACE Act for pregnancy centers

As it weaponized the FACE Act to crack down on pro-life Americans, the Biden DOJ turned a blind eye to a string of violent domestic terror attacks on Christian pro-life pregnancy centers. After these attacks numbered over 100, the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the violence and demanding action from the Biden administration.

The FACE Act was passed to ‘stifle free speech’

President Trump in January issued an executive order pardoning dozens of pro-life Americans targeted by Biden’s DOJ for protesting abortion, adding that it was a “great honor” to sign the order. 

One of those pardoned, a father of 11 named Paul Vaughn, was violently raided by the FBI at his home on an early September morning in 2022 for peacefully protesting abortion. Agents arrested Vaughn at gunpoint and terrorized his wife and children.

“The FACE Act was ostensibly passed because of violence. But as my family knows very well, all it did was give violence the cover of law and place it in the hands of the government,” Vaughn said in testimony to Congress, adding that the FACE Act was passed to “stifle free speech and abuse the rights of Christian conservatives.”

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