CV NEWS FEED // Congressman Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced Jan. 21 new legislation seeking to dismantle the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which has been disproportionately used against peaceful pro-life protesters.
The law has faced growing criticism from pro-life advocates for being weaponized against peaceful defenders of life. Roy described the FACE Act as a tool of government overreach and is calling for its permanent elimination with the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025.
“Americans just spent the last four years being targeted by a weaponized justice system,” Roy said in a press release. “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 commended the Trump administration’s prompt actions to address past injustices, including pardons for individuals involved in the Jan. 6 protests.
Expressing optimism that those unjustly charged under the FACE Act would receive similar relief, Roy stressed that true justice requires eliminating the underlying laws that enabled such abuses in the first place.
“Data my office obtained from Merrick Garland’s DOJ showed that 97% of FACE Act prosecutions from 1994-2024 were against pro-life Americans,” he said.
The legislation has garnered strong support from Republican lawmakers, with more than two dozen co-sponsors. Now with a “Republican trifecta in the House, Senate, and White House,” Roy stressed the importance of acting swiftly.
“No more excuses,” he said, “Let’s get it done.”
Pro-life organizations have rallied behind the bill, praising it as a necessary step to protect peaceful advocates for the unborn.
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Tom McClusky, government affairs director for CatholicVote, noted the favorable position pro-life advocates now have with the new administration.
“With the election of President Trump, Catholics now are better protected from unfair persecutions that they were subject to under the Biden administration,” McClusky said in the release. “97 percent of the FACE Act were pro-lifers, despite hundreds of attacks on pregnancy centers and Catholic churches.”
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Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins also condemned the FACE Act as a discriminatory tool.
“The FACE Act represents viewpoint discrimination, as punishments are supersized because of the beliefs of those targeted by the government,” Hawkins said in the release. “This abuse of prosecutorial pro-abortion aggression must end. SFLAction supports the FACE Act Repeal Act and hopes to see the new Trump Administration pardon all the pro-life prisoners, unjustly prosecuted.”
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