Under Trump, anti-abortion violence is getting a pass | Opinion

Republicans are playing the victim once again – and allowing violent actors to evade the law in the process.

President Donald Trump’s administration has decided that some activists who used violence and threats to keep patients from accessing abortion clinics were treated unfairly by former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, according to a new report from the Justice Department.

Under Biden, the report says, the DOJ unfairly enforced the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act against anti-abortion protesters. Before releasing the report April 14, the Trump administration fired three lawyers within the department who worked on these cases, according to The New York Times.

Trump is tough on crime, unless he likes the criminals

The 1994 FACE Act is intended to keep people safe while entering a reproductive health clinic or place of worship, but the Trump administration decided it was too heavy-handed in its punishment of anti-abortion protesters.

The DOJ report states that former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland went after pro-life groups who had broken the law far more than they went after abortion activists who protested outside pregnancy care centers, which are religious organizations fronting as reproductive health clinics.

Trump and Republicans continue to claim that Christians, anti-abortion activists and other conservative actors were persecuted by the Biden administration and in the court of public opinion. It’s ironic, considering the GOP controls every branch of the federal government now.

But I fear the decision to issue “full and unconditional” pardons to anti-abortion activists only emboldens people who are inclined to act in dangerous and violent ways to keep women from accessing the health care they need and deserve.

The DOJ report could be used by Democrats to show that they care about both the law and reproductive health, but they must first prove they are up to the task of talking about it.

Trump going after his political adversaries is nothing new. He’s gone after former presidents, members of Congress and even people who once worked for him. For him, firing lawyers who worked on the FACE Act cases would be what he had to do to ensure complete control of the government.

It is also not new for him to be decrying bias against conservatives. He’s made it a point during his second administration to combat what he says is anti-Christian bias, despite the fact that Christians are the largest religious group in the United States.

He has famously issued pardons and commutations to every defendant charged and convicted in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, including those who were found guilty of violence.

Most recently, the Justice Department has sought to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions that right-wing extremists received following that day.

Yet it is still striking that his administration is working so hard to undo the actions of the previous administration, and is willing to forgive violence in the process. The Republican Party, which claims to be the party of law and order, is using its power to give the extremist right a pass while throwing the book at pro-Palestine or anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters.

Public opinion on abortion leans left. Will Democrats use it?

Democratic lawmakers have been mostly silent on the DOJ report, and as a whole are shying away from discussing abortion in their election campaign in favor of affordability.

Democratic voters are also less likely to say abortion rights are important to them than in 2024, according to polling from Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

Public opinion has also shown that support for abortion access has decreased slightly since 2024, but the majority of the public still thinks abortion should be legal in all or most cases. As Democrats are trying to hone their messaging ahead of November elections, they should be leaning into abortion rights.

It is not a coincidence or a conspiracy that there were more anti-abortion protesters prosecuted using the FACE Act during Biden’s tenure: Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, there has been a gigantic increase in violence outside of abortion clinics. Clinic providers and volunteers regularly receive death threats or are stalked by anti-abortion extremists.

The same statistics cannot be found for threats against pregnancy care centers – probably because it’s such an infrequent occurrence, although there were individual reports of incidents following the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

It should not be an outlandish thing to say that people who incite violence to prevent patients from accessing abortion care should be punished, just as anyone who incites violence should face consequences. What is outlandish is the way that the Trump administration will do anything in its power to weaponize the president’s victim complex.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky: @sarapequeno.bsky.social