Republicans Move A Step Closer To Repealing Protections For Abortion Clinics
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, also known as the FACE Act, was enacted in 1994 by President Bill Clinton in response to escalating violence against abortion clinics. The law made it a federal crime to use force or the threat of force to injure, intimidate or block any person trying to provide or access reproductive health care services. While the law has primarily been used to protect abortion clinics, it also protects fertility clinics, anti-abortion pregnancy centers, churches and other places of religious worship from similar violence.
Anti-abortion violence dropped by 30% when the FACE Act was first signed into law. The law is arguably now more important than ever, since federal abortion protections fell in 2022 and violence against providers and clinics have skyrocketed. The year the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade, there was a 538% increase in people obstructing clinic entrances, a 913% increase in stalking of clinic staff and a 133% increase in bomb threats, according to a National Abortion Federation report.
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Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025 earlier this year, claiming that President Joe Biden's administration weaponized the law to prosecute anti-abortion activists. The repeal is part of a yearslong push by the GOP to stoke a false narrative that Democrats are waging a war against the anti-abortion religious right. Republican support for the bill comes less than a month after a California fertility clinic was bombed and one person died.
After a heated debate on Tuesday, the repeal bill passed in a 13-10 vote along party lines. It now heads to the House for consideration.
'NAF has been tracking anti-abortion violence since 1977, and we know this for certain: when the FACE Act is being enforced, it is an effective and important tool to keep abortion providers and their patients safe,' Julie Gonen, chief legal officer at the National Abortion Federation (NAF), said in a Tuesday statement. 'It is unconscionable to see anti-abortion legislators trying to repeal a law that has been keeping people safe for decades.'
During Tuesday's debate, Roy claimed that he had little issue with the actual law and instead worried about overcriminalization and the Biden administration's 'one-sided enforcement of the law.' He noted that he's received pushback from within the Trump administration over his repeal bill because he said the administration is looking to use the FACE Act to protect churches.
'The previous administration weaponized the FACE Act to prosecute nonviolent pro-life Americans with the harshest sentences,' Roy said, routinely referring to abortion clinics and pro-choice advocates as 'anti-life.'
Republicans argued that the law has been disproportionately applied against anti-abortion advocates who protest at abortion clinics. Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said there has 'most certainly been egregious abuse' from the Biden administration's 'selective enforcement' of the law.
Roy said in his opening statement that 8% of the FACE Act cases filed under Biden's Department of Justice were against protesters at anti-abortion centers and 92% were against anti-abortion activists at abortion clinics. Because of this there should be a full repeal of the federal law, Republicans argued.
But several Democrats pointed out that simply looking at the numbers does not prove selective enforcement of the law. Instead, it shows that abortion clinics face a disproportionate amount of harassment and violence from anti-abortion protesters.
'The FACE Act is completely viewpoint neutral in its textual scope and viewpoint neutral in its application,' ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said. 'If more people have been convicted of attacking pro-choice abortion clinics than have been convicted of attacking pro-life pregnancy centers, as my friend from Texas suggests, it is because there have been vastly more people attacking abortion clinics than attacking pregnancy centers.'
The only Republican on the committee who did not support a full repeal was Rep. Tom McClintock (Calif.), who said enforcement was abused but the law should instead be revised.
Days into his presidency, Donald Trump announced he would limit enforcement of the FACE Act. He dismissed a handful of current ongoing FACE investigations and instructed prosecutors to apply the law only in 'extraordinary circumstances' such as instances of death, extreme bodily harm or significant property damage.
Trump also pardoned 23 people for FACE convictions that ranged from harassing pregnant patients to breaking into clinics and stealing fetal tissue. Several of those pardoned, some of whom were serving prison time, have already said theyplan to return to targeting and invading abortion clinics.
Abortion providers, clinic staff and other experts working in the reproductive health field told HuffPost shortly after Trump's announcement that they were deeply demoralized by the administration's decision. Some had already seen an increase in aggression and hostility from protesters in the few weeks since Trump took office.
'Unless you have worked at an abortion clinic, you will never understand the terror we face on a daily basis,' Renee Chelian, founder and CEO of Michigan abortion clinic Northland Family Planning, said in a statement following the advancement of the bill to repeal the FACE Act.
Chelian and her staff have survived arson attacks and a chemical bomb, as well as bomb and death threats. Eight of the protesters who attacked Northland Family Planning were convicted under the FACE Act during the Biden administration, but were later pardoned by Trump.
'Our patients have been blockaded from entering while needing immediate medical attention. My own children were targeted and terrorized,' Chelian said. 'The FACE Act is one of the only tools to hold these criminals accountable … There is no explanation for repealing this law other than purposefully inspiring violence against patients and clinic staff.'
'We're Sitting Ducks': Abortion Providers Brace For Violence After Trump Limits Clinic Protections
Arson, Burglary, Death Threats: Abortion Clinics See Uptick In Violence Post-Roe
Trump Admin Sends 'Ominous Signal' On Emergency Abortion Care Guidelines
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Time Magazine
11 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
Why Fleeing Texas Democrats Won't Stop Republicans
This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME's politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. If you're one of the millions of Texas residents living in a blue state House district, there's a better-than-even-odds chance your state rep has fled the state. Even if you live in a red district, or really anywhere else in the country, those truancies could determine the final two years of President Donald Trump's time in Washington. More than 30 Texas lawmakers are in Illinois. Another six are in New York. Massachusetts was a draw for others as their comrades gathered for an unrelated wonkfest. And a few are in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom first floated a plan that has become a national script for Democrats preparing to retaliate against Texas, where Republicans plan to further gerrymander the state's U.S. House districts to improve their chances at maintaining the national balance of power in Washington. In a striking reminder just how fragile politics can be, roughly 60 state lawmakers—each standing as proxy for just shy of 200,000 constituents—stand to potentially decide who will be the next House Speaker dictating policy for 345 million Americans. They split from their state on Sunday in what boosters have branded a 'Texodus,' one day after a GOP-led panel in Austin moved forward with a partisan rewrite of the state's district maps. And yet, despite serving as a rallying cry among Democrats nationally, this gambit by Texas Democrats is going to fail if history is to be a guide. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special legislative session that would, if successful, shrink the number of Democrats the state sends to the U.S. House by five. That would leave Democrats with eight seats, roughly 20% of the 38 Texans there, despite Democratic nominee Kamala Harris netting more than 42% of the vote in Texas last year. In response, 57 of the Texas House's 62 Democrats fled the states rather than allow a quick vote approving the new lines. And in turn, Abbott threatened to remove those citizen lawmakers from their elected positions unless they hoofed it home while hinting they may face felony charges. Even if Texas Democrats run out the clock on this special session, nothing is stopping Abbott from calling another immediately after, setting this up for a perpetual stand-off that could cost each absent lawmaker $500 a day, as well as months away from their families and jobs. When Democrats fled Texas in the past to block similar GOP power grabs, they ultimately gave up. Nationally, Democrats loudly cheered the move, even if they quietly knew it would ultimately prove a delay but not a defeat. Lacking a unified front since Harris' stinging loss last year that brought Trump back to the White House, Democrats have been rather listless as they try to regain their footing. The base wants a fight. The Establishment wants to spare itself the tough conversations. The consultant class wants to keep the cash flowing. All of which is to say this: Democrats will take anything passing muster for a win, albeit a brief one, especially if it triggers Democrats in other states to respond. The Texas walkout drew a collective huzzah, with the chief Democratic group focused on state legislative power calling on their members to retaliate in spades. 'All options must be on the table—including Democratic state legislatures using their power to fight back and pursue redistricting mid-cycle in order to protect our democracy,' Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee chief Heather Williams said. Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin seemed to signal his concurrence: 'Democrats everywhere should be ready to fight fire with fire to combat Trump and Republicans' craven scheme to rig the maps in their favor.' 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12 minutes ago
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USA Today
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Under the new maps, Texas' congressional districts in the Houston, Austin and Dallas metro areas would be sliced up, along with a handful in southern Texas, creating five additional districts that would have heavily favored Trump in last year's presidential race. "They're turning our districts into crazy shapes to guarantee the outcome they want in the 2026 elections," Rep. James Talarico said in an Aug. 3 video posted on X. "If this power grab succeeds, they will hang onto power without any accountability from the voters." Abbott threatens expulsion and even felony charges against Dems Abbott has defended the mid-cycle redistricting effort as necessary after receiving a July 7 letter from the Justice Department that cites "constitutional concerns" about the existing congressional boundaries. 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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, joined Texas Democratic lawmakers at their press conference this past weekend. He has reportedly helped them find lodging and other accommodations, saying "everything is on the table," and that includes the Prairie State coming up with new maps, too. "Trump came up with a new scheme to rig the system by ramming through a corrupt, mid-decade redistricting plan that would steal five congressional seats, silencing millions of voters, especially Black and Latino voters," Pritzker said. The same goes for California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom, another possible White House contender, cast the clash as a fight for democracy. He has proposed temporarily setting aside his state's independent redistricting commission. Democrats dominate the Golden State, holding 43 out of 52 congressional seats. Newsom indicated the president would reap what he sowed if he continued this fight. "Buckle up, Donald Trump. California is about to get a whole lot bluer, thanks to you," Newsom said in an Aug. 1 post on X. Trump's remaining time in power at stake Democrats have an opening to take back the House of Representatives, where the GOP holds a narrow 220-212 majority, and the 2026 midterms will determine how Trump's presidency ends – including how he tries to spend money, any laws he wants to try to pass and, importantly, whether he faces a third round of impeachment proceedings. Next year's mid-term elections are expected to be tight contests across the board, particularly with Republicans having to defend Trump's agenda, which includes tax cuts and Medicaid reforms. If Democrats can win a majority in one chamber of Congress, they would be in a position to block Trump's remaining legislative priorities, which would significantly hamper his power for the rest of his term. It would also give them subpoena authority in powerful committees, which would force the administration and other witnesses to testify and hand over key documents. After the 2018 midterms during Trump's first term in office, the president and his goals were put on their heels and he saw a series of investigations against him, his administration and his allies. "Republicans are afraid to face voters in a free and fair election," Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, the House minority leader, said in an Aug. 3 post on X responding to the Texas attorney general. "That's the reason the extremists want to gerrymander the Texas congressional map and steal five seats. Look in the mirror and you'll see the face of a coward." Republicans aren't stopping with Texas Whatever happens in Texas, the fight over Congress via redistricting will continue in Ohio later this month, where Republicans hold a supermajority in the state legislature. GOP operatives believe they can pick up a couple of seats in the Buckeye State, which has a congressional delegation made up of 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats. Trump won the state by 11% last year. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, has already telegraphed that the plan is to create at least two GOP-leaning districts, likely targeting Democratic Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Emilia Sykes, who represent Toledo and Akron, respectively. Under the Ohio process, each chamber must have three-fifths of its members agree on the new maps. If the legislature can't reach a consensus, then the Ohio Redistricting Commission (which is controlled mostly by Republicans) takes over, but would return the matter to legislators if they can't come up with a plan within a month.
