Between 2022 and 2024, many Pregnancy Clinics closed for as long as a year and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair damage to their facilities. While overwhelmed and poverty-stricken women were left with nowhere to go for free prenatal services, baby clothing, and diapers, only a fraction of the those who vandalized and firebombed their community Clinics were out of jail before the repairs were even finished.
Among the supposed guilty are grandmothers who feared they might die alone with shackles around their ankles, all because they prayed and sang at a Clinic several years prior. Fortunately, this nightmare has a miraculous and happy ending.
The Incidents
On May 2, 2022, Politico a leak announcing the upcoming fall of Roe v. Wade. Immediately, ANTIFA members mobilized to form Jane’s Revenge, a loosely organized pro-choice domestic terrorist group that declared “open season” on pro-life establishments.
That summer, hundreds of people concealed their identity with face masks and hit the streets under the cover of night to commit nearly 140 acts of violence and assault. With a “you’re either with us or against us” mentality, they harassed, ran over, and shot people who expressed pro-life beliefs and those who did not affirm their violent campaign.
In the end, only seven people were prosecuted, five of whom served less than a year of combined jail time and supervised release as most charges were dropped despite surveillance and DNA evidence.
Instead of protecting churches, community Clinics, and Christians, the FBI and DOJ persecuted everyone involved in any of the five events of days gone by. Throughout 2020 and 2021, 23 people prayed and sang hymns in broad daylight while filming themselves live.
No damage was reported and there was one minor accidental injury when a staff member tripped. Pastors, church-going parents with no criminal record, wheelchair-bound elderly grandparents, and even an 89-year-old holocaust survivor were hunted down and prosecuted.
The Discrepancies
According to a July 2024 article published by Daily Caller, 97% of FACE Act cases between 1994 and 2024 were against pro-life vs. pro-choice activists (205/6). Over 25% of the pro-life cases were during the Jane’s Revenge rampage of 2022.
The Daily Caller also reported that a study by the Crime Prevention Center (CPC) showed that “pro-life groups experienced over 22 times more violence than pro-choice organizations.”
Laws
Laws in the US, such as the FACE Act and the Civil Rights Act, are designed to protect access to services and civil rights, but their enforcement and interpretation by the judicial system can shift based on political and administrative priorities.
FACE
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act is a law written to protect the facilities, patrons, staff, volunteers, and other supporters of pregnancy centers and abortion providers. FACE Act crimes include actual, intended, or threats of violence, obstruction, or damage intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.
Examples of illegal conduct specifically named under the FACE Act include physical attacks on clinic employees and patient escorts, attempted arson of clinic facilities, blockades of clinic entrances by persons or vehicles, and threats of bodily harm communicated to providers or recipients of services. These crimes may be prosecuted as misdemeanors or felonies.
The penalties for FACE Act crimes are as follows:
- Up to six months imprisonment and up to $10,000 in fines for “nonviolent physical obstruction”
- Fines and/or up to one-year imprisonment for the first offense
- Fines and/or up to three years for subsequent offenses.
- Mandatory federal criminal charges for someone who “maliciously damages or destroys, or attempts to damage or destroy, by means of fire or an explosive, any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property.”
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act, specifically Section 241, Conspiracy Against Rights was written in response to hate groups who were trying to prevent emancipated slaves from taking advantage of the voting rights provided in the Reconstruction Amendments.
As time moved on, Conspiracy Against Rights charges were also used to prosecute other hate groups, along with misconduct of law enforcement, and human trafficking violations. But the DOJ under Biden married the FACE Act with the Civil Rights Act and then stretched and twisted both the spirit and intent of the laws to send praying Christians to federal prison.
Congress Speaks Out
Members of Congress took notice of the DOJ’s aggression towards praying pro-life and ambivalence towards terrorist pro-choice groups and they called for accountability and correction repeatedly.
June 15, 2022
On June 15, 2022, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) wrote to the Department of Justice Attorney General Merrick calling for the prosecution of Jane’s Revenge:
“Despite the damage that has already been done and even though these groups have kept their promise to raise the violent stakes, the DOJ has not been faithful to its promise of ensuring the public’s safety against these violent, radical activists. … To date, there has not been a single charge brought against any individual or group despite the countless pro-life centers in America that have been firebombed and vandalized in recent months.”
June 25, 2022
While our country’s top law officers at the DOJ sat back and read Jane’s Revenge’s public blog, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg stepped in to prevent terrorist propaganda on his platform.
The day after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Zuckerburg categorized Jane’s Revenge as a terrorist organization. He released an emergency memo requiring moderators to censor all content in “praise, support, and representation” of Jane’s Revenge using the same criteria applied to other terror cells and hate groups, as well as neo-Nazis, drug cartels, and mass murderers.
January 23, 2023
A Congressional resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives that:
- Condemns recent attacks of vandalism, violence, and destruction against pro-life facilities, groups, and churches;
- Recognizes the sanctity of life and the important role pro-life facilities, groups, and churches play in supporting pregnant women, infants, and families; and
- Calls on the Biden Administration to use all appropriate law enforcement authorities to uphold public safety and to protect the rights of pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.
It’s important to understand that a Congressional resolution is an opinion expressed by Congress in unity intended to encourage and influence action.
While the opinions expressed in this document would seem like common sense, the resolution failed to pass. In other words, they would not condemn acts of violence, recognize the important role of pro-life organizations, or request appropriate protection of pregnancy centers and churches.
September 2023
Texas Republican Chip Roy and Utah Senator Mike Lee introduced a resolution, signed by dozens of Republicans, to repeal the FACE Act on the grounds that the use of the law has been unconstitutional.
May 2024
Congressman John H Rutherford wrote a letter endorsed by eight members of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America to General Merrick Garland requesting the criteria used in recent FACE Act sentences.
November 2024
Following a Congressional investigation, FBI Director Christopher Wray, testified before Congress that 70% of abortion-related threats and violence are against pro-lifers.
During the same hearing, Wray, denied the FBI was targeting pro-life activists and even claimed to be unaware of prosecutions and sentences in highly publicized cases.
At the Top
If Congress had no impact on the DOJ, then we must seek answers even higher.
Eight days after Biden became president, the Department of Homeland Security released a memo profiling pro-life Christians as a domestic terrorism threat.
“Radicalization suspects” included middle-aged mothers driving their minivan on the way to see their preacher or their part-time job as a bakery employee.
Hope for the Next Generation
Thankfully, on the second day of his second presidency, President Donald Trump signed a policy to end “the Weaponization of the Federal Government.” He directed the new Attorney General to partner with relevant agencies “to review the activities of all departments and agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States, … and identify any instances where a department’s or agency’s conduct appears to have been contrary to the purposes and policies of this order.”
President Trump signed a pardon for 23 pro-life prisoners, stating “they should not have been prosecuted” and their imprisonment was “ridiculous.”
Psalm 30:5b says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (NKJV). We hope you will join us at PreBorn! as we rejoice in their pardons by name. We must also remember they have been through much and have suffered incredible loss and trauma, so let’s also pray for God’s redemption and restoration for His good and faithful servants:
- Joan Bell
- Coleman Boyd
- Joel Curry
- Jonathan Darnel
- Eva Edl
- Chester Gallagher
- William Goodman
- Dennis Green
- Lauren Handy
- Paulette Harlow
- John Hinshaw
- Heather Idoni
- Jean Marshall
- Fr. Fidelis Moscinski
- Justin Phillips
- Paul Place
- Paul Vaughn
- Bevelyn Beatty Williams
- Calvin Zastrow
- Eva Zastrow
- James Zastrow
