Trump’s DOJ to use law weaponized against pro-lifers to protect them instead
Congressional Republicans are fighting to repeal the law used under the Biden administration to prosecute pro-lifers for praying outside abortion clinics.
In the meantime, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon plans to use the law to prosecute attacks against pregnancy resource centers.
“While the statute is in place, it provides protection for both people who are going to abortion clinics as well as crisis pregnancy centers,” Dhillon told The Daily Signal. “And we intend to prosecute numerous attacks that have happened on those over the years with people coming forward with the right evidence that we need.”
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act was meant to protect both abortion clinics and pregnancy centers from attacks, but 97% of convictions between 1997 and 2024 have been against pro-life activists, according to data obtained by Rep. Chip Roy’s office. At least 96 pregnancy resource centers and pro-life groups have been attacked and/or vandalized since a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked in early May 2022.
Dhillon, however, will be seeking a more evenhanded application of the statute. She plans to use the FACE Act to protect houses of worship from blockades and attacks.
“Given the tense circumstances in our country right now with antisemitism,” Dhillon said, “that’s definitely going to be one of our focuses as well.”
The Trump administration is a “pro-life administration and that comes from the top,” she said, adding: “All the folks I work with here are very respectful of life.”
Dhillon said the Department of Justice has some ongoing investigations into FACE Act violations. For instance, a prosecution is proceeding under the FACE Act for an attack on a fertility clinic.
Though many pro-lifers are advocating for the FACE Act to be taken off the books entirely, Dhillon thinks “there are some good things about the FACE Act.”
“There’s a lot of protections for all kinds of health care facilities,” she said. “Any statute can be abused. And so one other fact is that prosecutorial discretion allows prosecutors to select the cases they’re going to bring. What I will say about cases involving pro-life facilities and crisis pregnancy centers is that I think there are approximately 200 attacks on those in the last few years, but we don’t have 200 cases we can bring because we don’t have evidence of who committed the crimes.”
Under the Trump administration, the DOJ will not prosecute protesters who make their views known without obstructing clinic entry, Dhillon said.
“We believe in the First Amendment,” she said. “I hope future generations of civil rights prosecutors also believe in the First Amendment, because it is a critical restraint on how we pursue our jobs here in the Department of Justice.”
Dhillon urged pro-life centers who didn’t come forward under the Biden administration to present their cases before the statute of limitations runs out on the attacks they experienced.
“We are very much interested in evidence and bringing those cases, and so people should feel free to come forward,” she said. “They can contact us, they can contact the FBI, work with even local law enforcement, and we would love to bring cases to hold people accountable who interfered with the right of a woman to seek health care.”
When asked if the DOJ is firing department officials who targeted pro-lifers and ignored attacks against pregnancy help centers, Dhillon said she expects many of them might have resigned since Donald Trump became president again.
“I made the priorities of this administration clear, which are basically advancing the president’s priorities, but within the context of the statutes that we administer in the Civil Rights Division, over 200 attorneys quit,” Dhillon said. “And I think quite a few of those may have been along the more ideologically committed to the prior administration’s priorities.”
Dhillon has a history of defending the rights of pro-lifers. She represented David Daleiden, who blew the whistle on the purported sale of aborted baby parts, in two cases against the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood.
“At the end of the day, the value of those cases is significant,” Dhillon said. “The alleged misconduct of Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Federation providers in misrepresenting their compliance with federal law, it’s a violation of federal law to sell baby parts. It’s both repugnant and inhumane as well as illegal.”
“So, I think there’s ongoing litigation there, so I don’t want to prejudice or comment on any of that,” she added. “But the criminal case [against Daleiden] was among the flimsiest criminal cases I’ve ever seen in my career, and I just played a tangential role in that as local counsel at points of time.”
Daleiden’s case was the first prosecution in California history that Dhillon is aware of against a journalist under wiretapping laws.
“To prosecute a journalist for doing what journalists do was directly contrary to numerous case precedents around the country,” she said.
“It’s has really been my honor to represent someone so brave and principled and who made such a huge impact,” Dhillon said. “It isn’t just that he exposed that behavior, but the exposure of that illegal conduct by these abortion providers and abortion activists really led to law changes in multiple states, led to defunding in some states.”
The Trump DOJ is also handling whistleblowers differently than the previous administration.
“We’ve worked with some whistleblowers in civil rights, and they don’t always align with us in our private lives politically, and that’s completely irrelevant,” Dhillon said. “What’s concerning is when we hear about violations of the law, and then we often see that whistleblowers experience retaliation. So, I like to tell people that the cover-up is often worse than the crime. And so, you really know that there’s some smoke or fire there when you see the retaliation happening against someone who dares to step forward.”
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]