In September 2022, Star Parker, founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, and a coalition of conservative leaders sent a Freedom of Information Act request (PDF) to Merrick Garland, former U.S. attorney general, for access to records pertaining to internal and external communications about attacks against pro-life organizations before and after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
The pro-life leaders had “serious concerns that the work of DOJ is being inappropriately politicized” and demanded fair and equal treatment for pro-life organizations.
Star and the pro-life coalition have been vindicated in their concerns about the attacks and suspicion of the Biden administration’s bias against pro-lifers.
The Department of Justice’s Weaponization Working Group on Tuesday released a report (PDF) of over 800 pages that shows how the Biden administration shamelessly used the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act to target pro-lifers.
(Example: pro-lifer Mike Houck was praying outside an abortion clinic when a volunteer escort harassed him. After Houck pushed the man away from his son, he was arrested and charged with two counts of violating the FACE Act. A federal grand jury acquitted him.)
The working group reviewed more than 700,000 records and concluded that pro-life activists were disproportionately targeted, while attacks on pregnancy resource centers were often downplayed.
The Biden administration and pro-abortion groups worked together to target pro-lifers. The Trump administration found, among other things, prosecutorial misconduct, which includes withheld evidence and religious bias in jury selection. From the report summary:
The Biden DOJ pursued significantly harsher sentences for pro-life defendants than violent pro-abortion defendants. The Biden DOJ requested an average sentence of 26.8 months for pro-life defendants, compared to 12.3 months for pro-abortion defendants.
How can we trust the system to apply justice fairly?
President Donald Trump and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche are righting these wrongs. For example, the president pardoned many of the pro-lifers and dismissed lawsuits against them.
“This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” said Blanche. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
