Trump pardons anti-abortion protesters a day before annual March for Life rally

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump signed an executive order pardoning 23 anti-abortion activists Thursday, one day before he is expected to address thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators at their annual march in Washington, D.C.

“Twenty-three people were prosecuted, they should not have been prosecuted,” Trump said during the Oval Office signing on Thursday noting that “many of them” are elderly. “This is a great honor to sign. They will be very happy.”

Some are in jail, White House staff secretary Will Scharf told the president as he stood next to him. The names of the pardon recipients were not immediately released but conservatives have charged the Biden administration with using a 1994 law protecting abortion clinics, providers and patients to target peaceful protesters.

Congress enacted the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in response to an increase in violence against abortion providers and their patients, with the aim of allowing people to safely access these services. It also protects First Amendment religious rights. Property damage can be prosecuted under the statute.

Several of the people prosecuted under the law were involved in a 2021 blockade of a Washington, D.C., reproductive health care clinic.

Advocates for clemency argue that the Biden administration used the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to prosecute anti-abortion protesters unjustly. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, re-introduced legislation this week to repeal the measure.

The pardons come on the eve of the annual March for Life along the National Mall, the third time the demonstration has been held since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022. Trump is expected to address the crowd virtually while Vice President JD Vance will speak in person.

Trump, on the campaign trail, wavered on his abortion message as he searched for a political middle ground that would allow him to grow his coalition and win the election. At times he seemed uneasy with how to proceed.

But he promised at the 2023 Pray Vote Stand Summit that if he won he would appoint a task force “to rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner who’s been unjustly persecuted by the Biden administration” and that “never again will the federal government be used to target religious believers.”

Trump has signed dozens of executive actions since his inauguration Monday, including one pardoning over 1,500 people involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

By Trump’s second day in office, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., issued a public appeal for clemency for the defendants he claimed were “unjustly targeted & jailed by the Biden Administration” for their anti-abortion beliefs, telling Trump in a social media post that “they deserve to be free.”