Trump Justice Department has made protests at places of worship a FACE Act priority

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Recent court cases involving pro-life activists at abortion clinics, an immigration protest inside a Minnesota church and a new application of a 1994 federal law, the FACE Act, show how legal realities have changed in one year.

Signed into law by President Bill Clinton, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction interfering “with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services or to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”

The law “also prohibits intentional property damage of a facility providing reproductive health services or a place of religious worship.”

The Biden administration’s Department of Justice began to frequently apply the law in 2022 after the Supreme Court, in its Dobbs decision, overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion on demand. Overall, the DOJ brought at least 26 charges against pro-life individuals under the FACE Act in 2022, according to Alliance Defending Freedom.

The best-known conviction involved Lauren Handy, who led a 2020 clinic blockade in Washington and received a 57-month sentence in 2024.

But under a new Trump administration, the DOJ announced in January 2025, the day after President Donald Trump pardoned Handy and 22 other people on Jan. 23 who were convicted under the act and serving prison terms, that the law would only be applied in “extraordinary circumstances, or in cases presenting significant aggravating factors, such as death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage.”

Under the new directive, the DOJ so far has only prosecuted cases under a provision in the law protecting those who seek to enter a house of worship “to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom.”

Last year, the DOJ applied the law after demonstrations at an event in a synagogue in West Orange, New Jersey. A clash between pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel counterprotesters turned violent. Two pro-Israel demonstrators were charged with aggravated assault, but the DOJ charged members of the pro-Palestinian groups with FACE Act violations to permanently bar them from protesting outside houses of worship.

On Jan. 30, Don Lemon, a former CNN reporter, and eight others were each charged with one count of violating the FACE Act for protesting inside Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn., which is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. One of its pastors, David Easterwood, is acting director of the Minnesota field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

They were also charged with conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate any person” exercising their freedom of religion.

The DOJ indictment claims that Lemon and the others called both the pastor and the congregation “Nazis” and called the church “the house of the devil.” The indictment claimed that Lemon refused to leave and that the demonstrators blocked the pastor in while Lemon “peppered” him with questions.

Lemon has maintained that he was only there to interview people as a journalist, and he intended to challenge his arrest.

The FACE Act has been upheld in federal appeals court challenges over the years, and last year, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to its constitutionality. House Republicans led by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, attempted to abolish it with the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025. The bill was passed out of the House Judiciary Committee June 10, 2025, but has not advanced.

Meanwhile, court cases involving two recent protests at abortion clinics have both ended in charges and fines being dropped in exchange for no-contest pleas.
On Feb. 3 in Memphis, Tenn., charges were dropped against activist Randall Terry and 16 others for a Dec. 5 demonstration at a Planned Parenthood clinic there. Abortion is illegal in Tennessee, but pro-life activists maintain that Planned Parenthood staff there transport women across state lines to clinics where legal abortions are offered.

Prosecutors agreed to drop disorderly conduct charges in exchange for “no contest” pleas which did not carry fines, probation or community service or admissions of guilt, although they are still convictions.

Terry staged the protest as part of his attempt to revive Operation Rescue, his organization that was prominent decades ago and was considered an impetus for the FACE Act. It has a new name, Rescue Resurrection. Terry has also built a “training camp” for activism in Memphis, his hometown.

On Jan. 12, charges for trespassing and disorderly conduct against six activists for an attempted Red Rose Rescue blockade last July at a clinic in Upland, Pennsylvania, were also dismissed in exchange for no-contest pleas. The clinic targeted by Red Rose Rescue offers mifepristone and misoprostol pills for abortion but does not conduct surgical abortions.

Monica Miller, who heads Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, the umbrella organization for Red Rose Rescues, was included in both plea deals. In Memphis, she was permitted to make a statement in court.

“We wanted to spare the children who were going to be trafficked across state lines,” she said in the statement provided to OSV News.

“We also wanted to help the moms. At this point I will actually have been in the pro-life movement this year, 50 years. I’ve helped a lot of moms choose life. So you have to offer them practical help, love, compassion and understanding for their circumstances, to give them hope in the circumstances,” she said. “And we wanted to do that also when we went to that Planned Parenthood.”

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