The House Judiciary Committee voted 13-10 on Tuesday to advance a bill aimed at repealing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act — a law used disproportionately against peaceful pro-life activists.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- The FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025, advanced by the committee, now goes to the House for a full vote.
- Though introduced under the Clinton Administration, prosecutions against pro-lifers under FACE ramped up in 2022 under the Biden-Harris DOJ when it appeared the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade.
- Multiple pro-lifers were imprisoned for peaceful protests at abortion businesses, though some had occurred years before and were not prosecuted locally.
- After President Trump pardoned 23 imprisoned pro-lifers, he said FACE Act prosecutions should only be brought in extreme cases.
- The repeal of the FACE Act will guarantee that pro-lifers won’t “face felony convictions for peaceful acts such as sidewalk counseling or singing hymns,” says Rep. Chip Roy.
THE DETAILS:
HR 589, The FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025, was introduced in January in the House by Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) and in the Senate by Sen. Mike Lee (Utah).
“There are many people in this country who believe this legislation is critically important so you can end the abuse of the existing federal statute to be used politically to target American citizens for political purposes, as was evidenced repeatedly over and over and over again under the previous administration,” Roy told the committee.
“If you look at the data since the enactment of the FACE Act since 1994, you look at the uptick in attacks on churches, for example — 800% increase in violence against churches. Since 2018, an average of 39 attacks every month. There have been 96 violent attacks on pregnancy centers since the Dobbs opinion was leaked in 2022… The fact of the matter is, it was politicized,” he added.
BREAKING 🚨
The House Judiciary committee has passed legislation to repeal the FACE Act in a 13-10 vote.@chiproytx @Jim_Jordan @JudiciaryGOP pic.twitter.com/sveK6mkRrx
— Live Action News (@LiveActionNews) June 10, 2025
The bill will now move to the House floor for a full vote.
THE BACKSTORY:
The FACE Act was first enacted in 1994 under then-President Bill Clinton. It “prohibits threats of force, obstruction and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services … or other federal criminal statutes where arson, firearms, and threats were also used.” Under FACE, activists are allowed to peacefully protest, sing, pray, hold signs, and hand out information to individuals entering ‘reproductive’ facilities.
Under the Obama administration, the Department of Justice (DOJ) began using FACE against pro-life activists. This escalated under the Biden administration in early 2022 when Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reached the Supreme Court, threatening to overturn Roe v. Wade. It was then that the Biden-Harris DOJ began waging a retaliation campaign against pro-lifers to frighten them away from their pro-life work.
According to Catholic Vote, since 2022, there have been 96 known violent attacks on pro-life organizations and 340 attacks against Catholic churches, many of which were spray-painted with pro-abortion messaging. Yet, as pro-abortion supporters were attacking pro-life organizations and individuals, the FBI began raiding the homes of peaceful pro-lifers such as Mark Houck — whose family, including small children, were terrified to find FBI agents on their property with guns drawn in September 2022.
“[It was] an act of terror designed to humiliate, intimidate and instill fear in us and they’ve effectively done that with our children to this day, but [to] instill fear in pro-life America, right? Because this is now becoming an overreach of government,” Houck told Live Action founder and president Lila Rose in an interview.
Dozens of pro-lifers were sentenced to prison time, some for peaceful protests in which they had participated years prior; then President Trump pardoned the 23 who remained in prison shortly after he took office again in January 2025.
A few days later, the Trump DOJ limited the enforcement of the FACE Act, saying it could only be enforced in “extraordinary circumstances” — such as when death, extreme bodily harm, or significant property damage are carried out against a ‘reproductive health care’ facility.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
“The politicized nature of these prosecutions cannot be ignored,” said Roy. “HR 589 eliminates the possibility that everyday Americans can face felony convictions for peaceful acts such as sidewalk counseling or singing hymns. Passage of this bill is a crucial and necessary step.”
He added, “Having a statute such as this in place is begging for it to be politicized. It was politicized, and Americans have been put in prison as a result of their beliefs. And it should not remain in place.”
