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n Wednesday, the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the indictment of eight pro-life protesters in Michigan on federal charges, continuing an alarming trend of the weaponization of federal law enforcement agencies for the targeting of political opponents.
As reported by Fox News, the eight defendants have been charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, over an incident that took place outside an abortion clinic in Sterling Heights, Michigan in August of 2020. The DOJ accuses the eight of “engaging in a civil rights conspiracy” for allegedly blocking the entrance to the Northland Family Planning Clinic. The indictment claims that one of the defendants advertised the protest ahead of time as a “blockade” on social media.
“All eight defendants violated the FACE Act by using physical obstruction to intimidate and interfere with the Sterling Heights clinic’s employees and patients,” the indictment claims, “because the clinic’s employees were providing, and the patients were seeking, reproductive health services.”
The prosecution is being led by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights, as well as Dawn Ison, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
The FACE Act is a law that makes it a federal crime to “injure, intimidate or interfere” with a woman who is trying to get an abortion. Those convicted under the FACE Act could face sentences of up to 11 years in prison and fines of $350,000.
