The Justice Department will scale back prosecutions of demonstrators who interfere with patient access to reproductive health clinics, calling those cases an example of what President Trump has termed the “weaponization” of law enforcement. The new DOJ chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, said cases brought under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) would be allowed only under “extraordinary circumstances” or in cases involving “significant aggravating factors” such as “death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage.” Less serious conduct could be adequately addressed by state or local authorities, Mizelle said. He
told the DOJ civil rights division to drop three pending actions it had brought under the law involving clinic blockades in Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, reports the Washington Post.
“President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise of ending the weaponization of the federal government and has recently directed all federal departments and agencies to identify and correct the past weaponization of law enforcement,” Mizelle said in a memo. “To many Americans, prosecutions and civil actions under the [FACE Act] have been the prototypical example of this weaponization.” Mizelle’s directive was issued as thousands of antiabortion demonstrators paraded in Washington, D.C., on Friday in the annual March for Life. It marked a sharp departure from the DOJ stance in the Biden administration. Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, said FACE is a key tool to protect reproductive rights amid tightening legal restrictions for women seeking abortions. The 1994 law makes it a crime for demonstrators to block entrances, damage property or threaten patients. Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, federal prosecutors have filed cases against dozens of defendants accused of interfering with operations at clinics. Republicans have accused prosecutors of using the law against protesters exercising First Amendment rights.