Friends and family urge President Trump to fulfill his promise to pardon pro-life activists

On Monday, a newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump issued pardons for many individuals involved with the events that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. However, to the disappointment of many, he did not issue pardons for individuals involved in pro-life activism who were convicted of violating the FACE Act and “conspiracy against rights” — the latter of which is an 1870 law passed to prosecute members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Trump’s promise

On June 22, 2024, months prior to his election, President Trump promised to get pro-lifers “out of the gulags and back to their families where they belong” during a speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition. As Live Action News previously reported, Trump specifically mentioned 75-year-old Paulette Harlow, “who was sentenced to 24 months in prison for conspiracy to violate civil rights and violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Harlow had been on house arrest due to poor health following her November 2023 conviction, but Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced her to serve out the remainder of her 24-month sentence in federal prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release.”

Trump reportedly stated, “Paulette is one of many peaceful pro-lifers who Joe Biden has rounded up, sometimes with SWAT teams, and thrown them in jail. Many people are in jail over this.  …We’re going to get that taken care of immediately — first day.”

He added that he would “rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner who’s unjustly victimized by the Biden regime, including Paulette, so we can get them out of the gulags and back to their families where they belong.”

According to a press release from the Thomas More Society, attorneys from the pro-life legal organization submitted “formal requests for presidential pardons” to the incoming Trump administration on January 15, 2025. The release states (emphasis added):

The pardon request package includes 21 individual pardon requests, one for each pro-life advocate, outlining the specific facts of each case, their upstanding personal and moral character, and the reasons why President Trump should grant a presidential pardon. The pardon request package also includes a cover letter outlining the legal rationale for the requested pardons and explains how the Biden DOJ routinely and unconstitutionally weaponized the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and “Conspiracy Against Rights” statute against peaceful pro-life advocates.

The 21 pro-life advocates for whom Thomas More Society has submitted pardon requests are: 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,

The release adds, “On at least three occasions, President Trump has publicly signaled his intent to pardon the pro-life advocates wrongly prosecuted during the Biden administration.” It details these occasions, noting:

In September 2023, on the heels of the FACE Act convictions in Washington, D.C., President Trump stated he would review the “cases of every political prisoner who’s been unjustly persecuted by the Biden administration.”

In February 2024, in a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters in Nashville, Tennessee, Trump referenced the “pro-life activists… convicted on outrageous charges” in the Nashville FACE Act trial and pledged to review those convictions following his return to office.

In June 2024, in a speech for the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Trump reiterated his earlier statements and specifically referenced 76-year-old Paulette Harlow in his remarks, who is included among the pro-life advocates requesting a full pardon in the communicated pardon request package.

Family and friends still waiting to hear about pardons

Despite initial reports this week that one of the pro-lifers, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, had been pardoned yesterday, these reports were found to be incorrect. Williams’ husband, Rickey Williams, corrected the record later, stating,

… My wife is still incarcerated along with the other 20 pro-lifers. We have not gotten back word yet on a signature for her or the others pardons. The J6ers were all pardoned last night and hoping this can get on the President’s desk TODAY and DONE TODAY! Not TOMORROW or NEXT WEEK!

Williams added in another post on Facebook:

I just need to put this out there. My wife Bevelyn Beatty Williams will be pardoned. The timing may not be our timing but it will happen. Pro-Lifers have not been forgotten. This is for the families of those who have loved ones still incarcerated and have no idea of what is going on. You are not forgotten! You are hearing this from me. All of the anxiety and concerns can rest. March for Life is also this weekend! Stay tuned!

He later added:

I’m leaving the great state of Alabama. I’m about an hour away from my wife. Wasn’t expecting to be going back home without my wife. Had balloons, flowers etc set up for her. I’m not saying this for a pity party just the reality at the moment. Nonetheless, I’m strengthened knowing she will be pardoned and our best days as a family are yet to come.

In addition to Williams’ discouragement, Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) stated in an email:

We are preparing for the March for Life on Friday, while at the same time facing the reality that newly inaugurated President Trump decided not to pardon the pro-life prisoners on Day One. While we remain hopeful that he will pardon them in the coming days, the future is uncertain. We must remind him of his commitment to securing free speech for every American and to ending the unjust weaponization of the DOJ, for the sake of the activists and the babies.

We cannot let this lead us to despair, instead, we must organize and act.

PAAU urged readers to contact their Congressional representatives by calling them “and either speak to a staffer or leave a voicemail stating your request that they take immediate action to help ensure pardons for the jailed pro-lifers.”

A suggested sample script provided in the email reads:

“Hello, my name is [NAME] and I am your constituent. I am calling to request that Representative/Senator [NAME] take immediate action to help secure pardons for the jailed pro-life activists who were targeted by Biden’s DOJ for peacefully protesting abortion. This should be a top priority of our new pro-life majority and new Republican president, yet these pro-life Americans are still in prison. Pardon applications have been submitted to President Trump, but there has been no action on this matter. I am urgently requesting that you work quickly to return them to their families. Thank you.”

The Biden administration began targeting pro-lifers for peaceful outreach and activism on a grander scale using the FACE Act and conspiracy charges beginning in early 2022 before a leak of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in May of 2022 set off a firestorm of pro-abortion violence. That same year, Christopher Wray, then the director of the FBI, admitted that the vast majority of abortion-related violence was perpetrated by proponents of abortion against the pro-life community.

Editor’s Note: Take Action at SmashTheFACE.life.  

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