Trump pardons anti-abortion activists involved in clinic blockades

The Defense Department and Congress are going after undocumented immigrants while there's also continued pushback against Trump's pardons of January 6th defendants. The Trump administration all in on immigration, deploying 1500 troops to the southern border, deporting more than 5000 undocumented immigrants, and building barriers to curb the flow of border crossings. President Trump is sending *** very strong message to people around this world. If you are thinking about breaking the laws of the United States of America, you will be returned home, you will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. While the House giving bipartisan approval of the Lake and Riley Act, the bill passed, *** bill penalizing undocumented immigrants accused of theft to violent crime, detaining migrants while January 6th rioters were returned to the capital free. We are railroaded for political purposes because of who we were. The action pardoning all 1500 people charged facing pushback from law enforcement. He's going to leverage that power. in terrible ways. And one of the first ways he chose to do that? pardon from January 6th. Pras. They're under high scrutiny. I think they're very grateful and veiled skepticism from lawmakers within his own party. I would have preferred the president to look at each case individually. In an interview overnight, Trump defended his pardons, calling the actions from the January 6th rioters very minor incidents. In that same interview, he also says he wants to reform FEMA and have states handle more of their own natural disasters. In Washington, I'm Amy Lo.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he would pardon anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances.Related video above: Trump administration goes offense on immigration while defending pardons of Jan. 6 riotersTrump called it “a great honor to sign this.”"They should not have been prosecuted," he said as he signed pardons for "peaceful pro-life protesters.”The people pardoned were involved in the October 2020 invasion and blockade of a Washington clinic.Lauren Handy was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for leading the blockade by directing blockaders to link themselves together with locks and chains to block the clinic’s doors. A nurse sprained her ankle when one person pushed her while entering the clinic, and a woman was accosted by another blockader while having labor pains, prosecutors said. Police found five fetuses in Handy’s home after she was indicted.Trump pardoned Handy and her nine co-defendants: Jonathan Darnel of Virginia; Jay Smith, John Hinshaw and William Goodman, all of New York; Joan Bell of New Jersey; Paulette Harlow and Jean Marshall, both of Massachusetts; Heather Idoni of Michigan; and Herb Geraghty of Pennsylvania.In the first week of Trump’s presidency, anti-abortion advocates have ramped up calls for Trump to pardon protesters charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which is designed to protect abortion clinics from obstruction and threats. The 1994 law was passed during a time where clinic protests and blockades were on the rise, as was violence against abortion providers, such as the murder of Dr. David Gunn in 1993.Trump specifically mentioned Harlow in a June speech criticizing former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice for pursuing charges against protesters involved in blockades.“Many people are in jail over this,” he said in June, adding, ”We’re going to get that taken care of immediately.”Abortion rights advocates slammed Trump’s pardons as evidence of his opposition to abortion access, despite his vague, contradictory statements on the issue as he attempted to find a middle ground on the campaign trail between anti-abortion allies and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights.“Donald Trump on the campaign trail tried to have it both ways — bragging about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade while saying he wasn’t going to take action on abortion,” said Ryan Stitzlein, vice president of political and government relations for the national abortion rights organization Reproductive Freedom for All. “We never believed that that was true, and this shows us that we were right.”The legal group Thomas More Society argued the FACE Act defendants they represent had been “unjustly imprisoned.”“They have been heartened during their imprisonment and unjust prosecutions by your repeated messages to them during your campaign, urging them to persevere until you were able to take office, review their cases, and free them,” the legal group said in a January letter to Trump.Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, among Trump’s most loyal supporters, called the prosecution of anti-abortion protesters “a grotesque assault on the principles of this country” and urged Trump to pardon them while reading the stories of such anti-abortion protesters on the Senate floor Thursday. He highlighted Eva Edl, who was involved in a 2021 Tennessee clinic blockade and whose story has garnered attention from the largest national anti-abortion groups.Hawley said he “had a great conversation” Thursday morning with Trump about the protesters.The news of the pardons comes ahead of Friday’s annual anti-abortion protest March for Life in Washington, where the president is expected to address the crowd in a video.

WASHINGTON —

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he would pardon anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances.

Related video above: Trump administration goes offense on immigration while defending pardons of Jan. 6 rioters

Trump called it “a great honor to sign this.”

"They should not have been prosecuted," he said as he signed pardons for "peaceful pro-life protesters.”

The people pardoned were involved in the October 2020 invasion and blockade of a Washington clinic.

Lauren Handy was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for leading the blockade by directing blockaders to link themselves together with locks and chains to block the clinic’s doors. A nurse sprained her ankle when one person pushed her while entering the clinic, and a woman was accosted by another blockader while having labor pains, prosecutors said. Police found five fetuses in Handy’s home after she was indicted.

Trump pardoned Handy and her nine co-defendants: Jonathan Darnel of Virginia; Jay Smith, John Hinshaw and William Goodman, all of New York; Joan Bell of New Jersey; Paulette Harlow and Jean Marshall, both of Massachusetts; Heather Idoni of Michigan; and Herb Geraghty of Pennsylvania.

In the first week of Trump’s presidency, anti-abortion advocates have ramped up calls for Trump to pardon protesters charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which is designed to protect abortion clinics from obstruction and threats. The 1994 law was passed during a time where clinic protests and blockades were on the rise, as was violence against abortion providers, such as the murder of Dr. David Gunn in 1993.

Trump specifically mentioned Harlow in a criticizing former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice for pursuing charges against protesters involved in blockades.

“Many people are in jail over this,” he said in June, adding, ”We’re going to get that taken care of immediately.”

Abortion rights advocates slammed Trump’s pardons as evidence of his opposition to abortion access, despite his vague, contradictory statements on the issue as he attempted to find a middle ground on the campaign trail between anti-abortion allies and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights.

“Donald Trump on the campaign trail tried to have it both ways — bragging about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade while saying he wasn’t going to take action on abortion,” said Ryan Stitzlein, vice president of political and government relations for the national abortion rights organization Reproductive Freedom for All. “We never believed that that was true, and this shows us that we were right.”

The legal group Thomas More Society argued the FACE Act defendants they represent had been “unjustly imprisoned.”

“They have been heartened during their imprisonment and unjust prosecutions by your repeated messages to them during your campaign, urging them to persevere until you were able to take office, review their cases, and free them,” the legal group said in a to Trump.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, among Trump’s most loyal supporters, called the prosecution of anti-abortion protesters “a grotesque assault on the principles of this country” and urged Trump to pardon them while reading the stories of such anti-abortion protesters on the Senate floor Thursday. He highlighted Eva Edl, who was involved in a 2021 Tennessee clinic blockade and whose story has garnered attention from the largest national anti-abortion groups.

he “had a great conversation” Thursday morning with Trump about the protesters.

The news of the pardons comes ahead of Friday’s annual anti-abortion protest March for Life in Washington, where the president is expected to address the crowd in a video.

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