GOP Rep. Chip Roy Reintroduces Bill to Repeal Law Used to Throw Pro-Lifers in Prison

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) reintroduced a bill on Tuesday that would repeal a law former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) used to put pro-life advocates in prison.

The FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025, would get rid of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a law passed in 1994, which prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.” The act was written to equally protect abortion clinics, pro-life pregnancy resource centers, and churches, however, 97 percent of FACE Act cases since the law’s inception have been against pro-life advocates.

“Americans just spent the last four years being targeted by a weaponized justice system. The FACE Act was one of the primary weapons of abuse — being used to politically target, arrest, and jail pro-life Americans for speaking out and standing up for life.” Roy said in a statement. “While President Trump and his team are already fast at work reversing the damage of the J6 political prosecutions and persecutions through pardons and commutations, I am hopeful those targeted under the FACE Act will be given similar relief. But importantly, we in Congress need to do our part to eliminate the laws used for the weaponization, including the FACE Act.”

Data obtained by Roy’s office found that in less than four years, Biden’s DOJ accounted for more than a quarter of all 211 FACE prosecutions since the law’s inception. At least 55 FACE Act cases were prosecuted during the Biden administration, only a handful of which were against pro-abortion attacks on pregnancy centers, despite the increase in attacks against pro-life pregnancy centers and churches following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.

Biden’s DOJ has bolstered potential sentencing time by ten years in some cases by using the KKK-era “conspiracy against rights” charge paired with the FACE Act. For a few cases, the FBI has allegedly conducted early morning raids against pro-life advocates, even allegedly holding them at gunpoint in front of their families.

“Data my office obtained from Merrick Garland’s DOJ showed that 97 percent of FACE Act prosecutions from 1994-2024 were against pro-life Americans. Now that we have a Republican trifecta in the House, Senate, and White House, Congress should move quickly to repeal this law and ensure that no future president can weaponize it against pro-lifers ever again. No more excuses, let’s get it done,” Roy added. 

READ MORE: Federal Judge Pauses FACE Act Case Against Pro-Lifers Until Trump’s White House Return

Roy and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) first introduced the bill in September of 2023, contending at the time that the law is “an unconstitutional federal takeover of state police powers.” Lee is expected to introduce the 2025 version of the bill in the Senate. The bill has more than 20 Republican co-sponsors. 

President Donald Trump repeatedly pledged during his campaign to create a task force to review and potentially pardon or commute the sentences of every “political prisoner who’s been unjustly persecuted by the Biden administration,” including pro-life activists.

Thomas More Society submitted official petitions for pardon to the Trump administration ahead of inauguration day on behalf of 21 pro-life advocates. No pro-life activists have been pardoned as of Wednesday afternoon, with lawmakers and pro-life advocates urging Trump to keep his campaign promise. 

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.