By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-11-25 22:21:11 | Updated at 2024-11-26 01:45:02
3 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // A Michigan federal judge has postponed sentencing pro-lifers in a FACE Act trial brought by the Biden DOJ until after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, opening the possibility of charges being dismissed by the Trump administration.
Justin Phillips and several other pro-life advocates face 11 years in federal prison for peacefully protesting outside an abortion facility in Sterling Heights, Michigan, in August 2020. Phillips, along with others, delayed access to the facility for about an hour by sitting in front of its doors.
The Federalist reported that a recent status conference in Michigan’s Eastern District has given hope to Phillips and his co-defendants. U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Leitman paused proceedings and directed Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors to consult with the incoming Trump administration’s Civil Rights Division before proceeding further.
According to The Federalist, Phillips’ attorney, David Peters of the Pacific Justice Institute, expressed optimism that the Trump administration might dismiss the charges. Such a dismissal would spare defendants from criminal records, unlike a presidential pardon, which acknowledges guilt.
President-elect Donald Trump has previously indicated his intention to review cases of individuals “unjustly victimized by the Biden regime,” including pro-life advocates charged under the FACE Act. “We will get … them back to their families where they belong,” Trump said on the campaign trail.
Describing the pro-life rescue that took place in Sterling Heights, Phillips told The Federalist, “We were worshiping the Lord and just trying to stop babies from being killed, by just sitting in front of the door.”
This led to federal charges under the pro-abortion Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, potentially carrying sentences of over a decade in prison.
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Despite the legal challenges, Phillips remains steadfast in his Christian faith. “When Jesus saved me, he gave me a lot of love for him and for our neighbors, and opened my eyes to so many of our neighbors that are killed and just forgotten,” he told The Federalist.
“We know where it happens,” he continued. “I started going out to the abortion clinics back in 2017, and I’m there to offer help to moms and point to the Lord. I’ve seen God save hundreds and hundreds of babies and help a lot of people. The rescue was just really an act of worship, to lay my life down as Christ laid his life down for me.”
>> PRO-LIFE GRANDFATHER PUT IN ‘NOTORIOUSLY VIOLENT’ FEDERAL PRISON AFTER PEACEFUL PROTEST <<
Phillips and his co-defendants have been caught in the DOJ’s intensified enforcement of the FACE Act. Enacted in 1994 under President Bill Clinton, the FACE Act was designed to protect abortion clinics after the pro-life initiative Operation Rescue led to the closure of many abortion clinics prior to the Clinton administration. Its use escalated after President Joe Biden’s administration established a “Reproductive Rights Task Force” in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
Since the Dobbs decision, the DOJ has aggressively pursued FACE violations, charging 26 individuals in 2022 alone — more than in the previous 10 years combined. Many of these cases have seen the addition of “Conspiracy Against Rights” charges — originally designed to combat the criminal activity of the Ku Klux Klan — significantly increasing potential prison sentences.
>> PRO-LIFE PRISONER HEATHER IDONI SUFFERS FURTHER MISTREATMENT UNDER U.S. MARSHALS <<
Phillips and seven others were indicted in February 2023. Among them are Calvin and Eva Zastrow, Heather Idoni, and Joel Curry of Michigan, as well as out-of-state advocates like Chester Gallagher of Tennessee and 89-year old Holocaust survivor Eva Edl of South Carolina. Caroline Davis of Georgia, initially part of the group, testified against her co-defendants to reduce her own charges.
As some pro-life advocates, like Idoni and Calvin Zastrow, already serve prison sentences, others await Trump’s inauguration with cautious hope that a new administration will bring relief to those who defend the sanctity of life.
