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Anti-war protest, organized by People's Coalition for Peace and Justice, Downtown, Seattle, Washington, 1971. This is on the plaza in front of what was then the Seafirst Tower and is now (2024) Safeco Plaza. In the middle ground at right is the main branch of the Seattle Public Library. Designed by
Photo: Gary J. Carter, Seattle Municipal Archives from Seattle, WA | CC BY 2.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Draft Trump DOJ Report Says Biden Targeted Anti‑Abortion Protesters With FACE Act

A draft Justice Department report obtained by MS NOW concludes that the Biden administration politically targeted anti‑abortion activists for their religious beliefs in prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, and is expected to be released as early as next week. The nearly 60‑page draft, prepared under President Trump’s DOJ, seeks to justify his pardons of about two dozen defendants convicted during the Biden years of blockading abortion clinics, threatening violence, and verbally assaulting patients and staff, characterizing them instead as people "with traditional Christian views" and even as "peaceful, pro‑life demonstrators" in some dismissed cases. The report singles out longtime Civil Rights Division lawyer Sanjay Patel—now on administrative leave—for allegedly prioritizing prosecutions of anti‑abortion protesters while neglecting attacks on churches and crisis‑pregnancy centers, a claim two former DOJ colleagues dispute, and it criticizes his push to add charges to increase sentences even as Trump’s DOJ does the same in its FACE case against Don Lemon and Minneapolis church protesters. It also notes that, days after Trump pardoned the protesters, the Office of the Associate Attorney General ordered abortion‑related FACE prosecutions rolled back except in cases involving death, serious bodily harm or major property damage and directed the immediate dismissal of three federal cases in Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio. The draft comes amid a broader internal purge of career experts and installation of Trump loyalists at DOJ and will be used to underpin the administration’s narrative that Biden "weaponized" civil‑rights law against Christians, even though Trump’s own Department continues to pursue FACE charges against some of his critics and political opponents.

Department of Justice and Civil Rights Enforcement Abortion Policy and FACE Act Prosecutions

📌 Key Facts

  • The draft Trump DOJ report is roughly 60 pages and could be released as early as next week, according to three sources and a copy reviewed by MS NOW.
  • It accuses the Biden-era Justice Department of 'weaponizing' the FACE Act to target people 'with traditional Christian views' and seeks to justify Trump’s pardons of about two dozen convicted clinic blockade defendants.
  • Civil Rights Division attorney Sanjay Patel, who led most of those prosecutions, has been placed on administrative leave, and the report attacks him for prioritizing abortion-clinic cases and urging additional charges to lengthen sentences.
  • A post‑pardon memo from the Office of the Associate Attorney General rolled back abortion-related FACE prosecutions to only the most severe cases and ordered dismissal of three ongoing FACE prosecutions in Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio.
  • Despite claiming Biden weaponized FACE, Trump’s DOJ is simultaneously trying to bring FACE charges against former CNN anchor Don Lemon and protesters who entered a Minneapolis church earlier this year.

📊 Relevant Data

From 1994 to 2024, approximately 97% of FACE Act prosecutions have targeted anti-abortion activists, with the Biden administration accounting for over a quarter of all such prosecutions in the law's 30-year history.

'Targeting Pro-Life Individuals': Shocking Data Revealed as Biden Admin Accused of Weaponizing DOJ — CBN News

Since the Dobbs decision leak in May 2022, more than 100 crisis pregnancy centers, pro-life organizations, and churches have been attacked, some multiple times.

than 100 pro-life orgs, churches attacked since Dobbs leak — Congress.gov

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion providers have faced hundreds of death threats, 42 bombings, 206 arson attacks, over 600 assaults and batteries against clinic staff, and 4 kidnappings.

Abortion Providers Have Faced Hundreds of Death Threats Since Roe’s Fall — Truthout

In 2026, 60% of U.S. adults support legal abortion in all or most cases, with breakdowns showing higher support among Democrats (84%), independents (62%), and lower among Republicans (35%), and variations by religion such as 73% among religiously unaffiliated vs. 39% among white evangelical Protestants.

Public Opinion on Abortion — Pew Research Center

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