On September 19, 2023 Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX21) introduced a bill (HR 5577) to repeal the FACE Act. In the press release from his office he stated:
“Free Americans should never live in fear of their government targeting them because of their beliefs. Yet, Biden's Department of Justice has brazenly weaponized the FACE Act against normal, everyday Americans across the political spectrum, simply because they are pro-life.
Our Constitution separates power between the federal government and the states for a reason, and we ignore that safeguard at our own peril.
The FACE Act is an unconstitutional federal takeover of state police powers; it must be repealed.”
The Bias of the DOJ’s Reproductive Task Force
That The Face Act must be repealed is particularly true now since the supreme court has reversed its finding on abortion as a civil right. If there is no federally protected right to abortion, there is no need for federal legislation and the corresponding enforcement that follows.
In fact, there has never been a need for the FACE Act. There has not been one prosecution under the FACE Act that could not have been prosecuted under state law. Graffiti, vandalism, arson, assault, and even murder are all illegal in every state in the nation without the oversite of federal powers.
Further, to have a federal law that is used to prosecute private citizens of state crimes, some may say is the definition of tyranny. It could be seen as the fruit of an overreaching, unelected, branch of government we call the Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice knows they are enforcing a law that is illegal.
Merrick Garland’s stated the following in his Testimony before Congress in Sept 2023.
Over fifty years ago, the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, holding that the right to an abortion was protected by the Constitution.…. But last summer, the Court overturned Roe and renounced this fundamental right.
In a press release on June 24th 2022, He stated it even more directly:
“Today, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and held that the right to abortion is no longer protected by the Constitution.
Yet he said in a speech in January of this year,
“We are also continuing to enforce the FACE act, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance Act.”
The Department of Justice knows they are enforcing a law that is illegal, but yet they still prosecute with prejudice. In the same press release from June 2022, AG Garland went on to say,
“The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Court’s decision. This decision deals a devastating blow to reproductive freedom in the United States.”
and
“Under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, the Department will continue to protect healthcare providers and individuals seeking reproductive health services…”
In fact, not only are they still prosecuting pro-life advocates federally, they setup an entire federally funded (With your tax dollars) Reproductive Rights Task Force to do so. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, the taskforce chairman explains,
We established this Task Force as a whole-of-Department effort to closely scrutinize these new, complex, and widespread threats to reproductive health for any infringements on federal protections. By design the Task Force model allows the Department to be coordinated and strategic in its response to these threats. Task Force staff are working daily on the impacts of Dobbs and, as the Attorney General has highlighted, we have not hesitated to act, be it through the Idaho lawsuit, the Department’s ongoing FACE Act enforcement, or our other work advising agencies and conducting outreach to stakeholders about our collective efforts to protect reproductive healthcare.
The italics added to note that post Roe, there are NO “federal protections” found in law or by court decree. The only federal protection that can be found is the existing, now illegal, FACE Act. The fact it is being used by a department and task force that is exclusively pro-abortion and has shown an aggressive bias against pro-life Christians speaks directly to the reason The FACE Act must be repealed.
Unequal Protection by the Numbers
The unequal application of how the FACE Act is being used by the task force in the post Roe world lends clarification to the abusive nature of this statute and the enforcement actions by the DOJ’s Task Force. The only purpose the FACE Act serves is to persecute those who hold pro-life beliefs and allow the federal government to overrule the states and by proxy overrule the voice, will, and beliefs of the people belonging to those states.
As a reminder, the DOJ and the task force are unelected federal bureaucrats, with no check or balance from the people. Their existence does violence to the principles of federalism and the high ideas of a democratic republic.
In addition, by the DOJ task force’s unequal application of this law, the government is encouraging violence against churches, pro-life clinics, and people of faith.
By their own numbers, there has been one event prosecuted regarding pro-abortion radicals, like Jane’s Revenge. All the other prosecutions have been against pro-life people.
Also note the number of enforcements per year prior to the fall of Roe was averaging 1.2 per year. But we are supposed to believe that after the fall of Roe V. Wade, via the Dobbs ruling, there were 4 times more actionable offenses by pro-lifers than the previous decade of data provided.
In contrast, since the Dobbs decision there have been 88 documented cases of violence against pro-life pregnancy centers including, fire bombs, arsons, threats of violence and death, along with graffiti and broken windows. That is 88 cases against pro-life facilities, compared to the total prosecuted FACE cases against pro-abortion facilities since 2011, which was 24.
Let me say that more clearly, in 13 years there have been 24 prosecuted attacks against abortion facilities. Since Dobbs was overturned, a little over one year ago, there have been 88 attacks against pro-life facilities. But we can rest at ease, there has been one prosecution of those 88 attacks, only 87 to go. I’m sure the 100% left leaning pro-abortion task force is staying up late looking into those other 87 cases.
Also remember the FACE Act applies to churches as well. Surely the task force is taking this law seriously and making sure it is safe for people to go to church. Would you believe there have been 196 attacks on Catholic Churches since the Dobbs leak?
The numbers are in. The bias is written in black and white by their own hand. There is no denying the era of the FACE Act is past any legal and legitimate function of law. It is a bully club being wielded by a left leaning pro-abortion mob operating under the guise of law. The personal bias of the individuals is hiding behind a tax funded task force. That task force will use the treat of long federal prison terms and high financial fines to threaten and suppress any remaining dissident opinions. It will hunt all those who still believe in some old fashion principle like defending innocent life is noble.
All dissents will be crushed. This in essence is what Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue, told Chairman Schumer in 1993 during the testimony regarding the initial passage of the FACE Act.
Help Repeal the Fact Act Today.
It was easy to see this coming. It was much harder to know what to do to stop it. Today, there is something you can do that will have an immediate impact.
The FACE Act must be removed from the pro-abortion DOJ’s tool bag. They show no respect for the rule of law. It is time to repeal the law they are using illegally.
The FACE Act needs to go.
It needs to go because it has outlived the premise it was passed to protect.
It needs to go because it is being abused and used as a tool to crush dissident opinions and the basic principles of free speech.
It needs to go because it is one lever that can be pulled to check the insanity that is running down the streets of our nation.
It needs to go because, “Free Americans should never live in fear of their government targeting them because of their beliefs.” Rep Chip Roy
Please contact your legislators today and ask them to support HR 5577 the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2023.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/09/19/exclusive-pro-lifers-face-jail-time-doj-charges-gop-moves-repeal-face-act/
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