The Donald Trump DOJ reviewed more than 700,000 records and found that, among other things, the Joe Biden DOJ closely collaborated with pro-abortion groups to track pro-life activists' First Amendment activity.
"Pro-abortion groups — especially the National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood, and Feminist Majority Foundation — capitalized on their relationship with the Biden DOJ to gain internal information and push targets for enforcement," the Trump DOJ press release states.
According to the Trump Justice Department, these groups compiled evidence and dossiers that ultimately gave rise to search warrants and charges for things such as violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
"The Biden DOJ affirmatively asked pro-abortion groups about pro-life individuals' travel and constitutionally protected advocacy," said the Trump DOJ. "The Biden DOJ and career attorneys monitored pro-life activists for years before charging them."
Talking about this Tuesday on Fox News Channel's "America's Newsroom" program, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said federal prosecutors were asking for "harsh sentences inconsistent with what they should have been doing, and inconsistent with what they were arguing when it was exactly the opposite.
"We saw internal emails, internal correspondence, which is now part of the report, where Department of Justice prosecutors are working hand-in-hand with NGOs and nonprofits to target and go after pro-life individuals who were not breaking the law," said Blanche. "I'll tell you what, there's no emails in my inbox from NGOs telling me what to do."
In a related interview with AFN, Life News editor Steven Ertelt said the Biden administration abused the law, and they did it in concert with pro-abortion groups to put pro-life people in prison.
"On the other hand, they did not prosecute pro-abortion activists who were actively attacking churches, attacking pro-life groups, and attacking pregnancy centers in the wake of the Dobbs decision," said Ertelt. "So, there were hundreds of cases of churches and pro-life groups that faced everything from just graffiti on their building to literal firebombing and attacks on their facilities, and the Biden administration did not hold them accountable, but tried to put peaceful pro-life Americans in prison."
President Trump campaigned in 2024 on ending the weaponization of the federal government. The Trump DOJ calls these prosecutions under the FACE Act the "prototypical example of this weaponization."
“Pro-lifers have had to face the egregious, unlawful weaponization and imprisonment from the Biden DOJ for their pro-life beliefs and their prayers to protect unborn babies and their mothers. This is outrageous! We commend the Trump DOJ for its investigation and for exposing the Biden DOJ’s unlawful actions,” Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America said.
Blanche said that he hopes the American people can "see the work that we did over the past year trying to understand what happened" at Biden's DOJ.
"Once they see it, I think folks will be frustrated," said Blanche.
But official recognition of the Biden administration’s targeting of pro-life groups is not enough, Nance said.
“There must be accountability and continued transparency so that this weaponization does not happen again under any administration,” she said.
