Trump Pardons Anti-Abortion Protesters in Sweeping Executive Order Amid Controversy
(Screengrab via CNN)
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he had signed an executive order pardoning anti-abortion protesters nationwide, including individuals currently serving federal sentences. “It was my great honor to sign this,” Trump said, according to media reports.
The sweeping executive order, part of a flurry of presidential actions during the first days of the new MAGA administration, pardons nearly two dozen individuals convicted of obstructing access to abortion clinics and temporarily shutting down some facilities, Politico reported.
“They should not have been prosecuted,” Trump said. “Many of them are elderly people. This is a great honor to sign this.” This latest move follows Trump’s controversial blanket pardons of over 1,500 convicted participants in the January 6 Capitol riots. As with the Capitol rioters, Trump described the anti-abortion protesters as “peaceful.”
However, the individuals pardoned were convicted of actions that included barricading clinic entrances, using bicycle locks to block doors, and in some cases, pushing and injuring clinic workers, preventing patients from accessing reproductive healthcare services, Politico noted.
Among those pardoned was Bevelyn Williams of Tennessee, who was serving a 41-month prison sentence for “interference, including by threats and force, with individuals seeking to obtain and provide lawful reproductive health services,” according to the Department of Justice. Reports state that Williams “crushed a clinic staff member’s hand in a door while attempting to block access to a New York City facility in 2020.”
Several prominent anti-abortion groups, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Students for Life, the Thomas More Society, and Americans United for Life, actively lobbied Trump to issue these pardons. These organizations used open letters, social media campaigns, and private communications to urge the president’s action.
After the pardons were announced, many of these groups praised Trump but emphasized that they expect him to advance their agenda on other policy issues as well. The timing of the pardons coincides with Trump’s scheduled video address to the annual anti-abortion March for Life on Friday, signaling his administration’s alignment with anti-abortion advocacy groups and his commitment to prioritizing their cause.
This controversial decision underscores the deeply polarizing nature of Trump’s early presidency and his willingness to take swift and bold actions to appeal to his political base.
