GOP Lawmakers Call for Defunding of Federal Law Over Alleged Bias Against Pro-Life Activists

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland arrives for testimony before the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee in Washington on March 28, 2023. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) is calling for the defunding of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, alleging that the law has been weaponized against pro-life advocates.

In a letter to the drafters of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2024, Roy and other representatives requested that a provision banning “funding for the Department of Justice to implement the FACE Act,” (18 U.S. Code Section 248).

The letter cites examples of the Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) allegedly abusing the FACE Act against U.S. citizens, including the case of Mark Houck, who was found innocent of all charges following an early-morning FBI raid on his home.

“Last September, the American people watched in horror as dozens of heavily armed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and more than a dozen vehicles conducted an early-morning raid, with guns drawn, on the home of Mark Houck, his wife, and seven children,” the letter reads.

“Since then, Mark Houck has been found innocent of all charges, but Attorney General Merrick Garland has refused to admit that the overwhelming use of force against an innocent American citizen was a mistake.”

The letter also points to the use of the FACE Act in more than two dozen instances against pro-life activists, including Father Fidelis Moscinski, Lauren Handy, Herb Geraghty, and a Holocaust survivor in 2022.

“We therefore request that you include the following language in the FY 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act,” the letter reads.

The lawmakers requested that none of the funds “be used to investigate or to criminally or civilly prosecute any individual for an actual or possible violation, that occurred during the current or any prior fiscal year, of (A) section 248 of title 18, United States Code; or (B) sections 241 or 371 of such title by reason of any violation of such section 248.”

“The Biden Administration has proven time and time again that it cannot be trusted to faithfully implement and enforce the FACE Act, as written by Congress,” the letter reads. “Until such a time, Congress ought to withhold the use of funds for enforcing this law and seriously consider repealing the statute in its entirety.”

The DOJ has also been accused of using the FACE Act to only charge pro-life activists with violations.

The Daily Signal, a Heritage Foundation affiliate, reported on March 9 that the Civil Rights Division didn’t charge a single pro-abortion activist with FACE Act violations in 2022, despite more than 100 apparent pro-abortion attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches, according to Catholic Vote trackers.

The addressed lawmakers didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment by press time.