As you could’ve easily anticipated, the Department of Justice’s nearly 900-page report detailing the politicization of the DOJ under pro-abortion President Joe Biden is no one day story. In particular, pro-lifers and people of faith, two often time overlapping groups, are keenly interested in how the Biden Justice Department, working hand-in-glove with Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, and the Feminist Majority Foundation, weaponized federal law, specifically the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances.
“The behavior unearthed in this report is shameful,” said Assistant Attorney General Daniel Burrows, Office of Legal Policy. “Lawyers who should have known better withheld evidence, worked to keep committed religious people off juries, and generally allowed the Department of Justice to be used as the enforcement arm of pro-abortion special interests.”
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
One key player, Sanjay Patel, a Civil Rights Division prosecutor, has already been fired, according to CBS News, along with at least three other prosectors. They were part and parcel of the Justice Department’s jihad against pro-lifers and people of faith, according to report titled “The Biden Administration’s Weaponization of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act,” commonly shortened to the acronym “FACE”.
Under the headline “Interactions with Pro-Abortion Groups,” we find just one of dozens of examples that illustrate Patel’s cozy relationship with the Abortion Industry. On page ten of the report, we read
In comparison, the Biden DOJ remained in continual contact with pro-abortion groups regarding the FACE Act. Both political leadership and career attorneys drove this relationship. Information flowed two ways. The outside groups provided information, often at DOJ’s request. The Biden DOJ committed to pursuing FACE Act cases to support these group’s interests. The outside groups provided information, often at DOJ’s request. DOJ prosecutors shared information with these groups that they withheld from pro-life groups. And the Biden DOJ provided connections and contacts. Patel even agreed to serve as a reference for NAF on a grant application. (Emphasis added.)
Two-tiered justice
Under the headline, “DOJ Confirms Biden Admin. Unjustly Targeted Pro-Lifers – with Abortion Industry’s Help,” S.A. McCarthy writes
Under Biden and Garland, the DOJ also revived the National Task Force on Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers, comprised predominantly of “career attorneys” from the DOJ’s civil rights division. The task force frequently communicated with pro-abortion organizations but “disregarded pro-life groups,” making no effort to communicate with pro-life pregnancy centers until months after they were targeted in 2022 for vandalism, arson, and other forms of threats and violence. When task force leaders did finally reach out to pro-life pregnancy centers, they determined who to contact “via a quick Google search,” relegated pro-life contacts to a press release recipient list, and openly “questioned whether to provide pregnancy resource centers with the same resources as abortion clinics, questioning whether these facilities fall under the FACE Act’s scope.”
The examples of the Biden DOJ working shoulder to shoulder with the leading players in the abortion movement are endless:
Pro-abortion groups capitalized on their relationship with the Task Force to gain internal information and push targets for FACE Act enforcement. The Task Force Director was on texting terms with the National Abortion Federation’s (NAF) Security Team and regularly communicated with Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF). The Task Force viewed NAF’s Security Team as an “MVP” at flagging protests for DOJ’ “attention, often in real-time, which usually result[ed] in an investigation/prosecution.”
Pro-life individuals were at the DOJ’s mercy. Mary Margaret Olohan tells us
The report specifically points to the case of Mark Houck, a Catholic father of a large family whose son was attacked by an abortion clinic worker. The Biden DOJ tried to use the FACE Act to prosecute Houck, but lost the case.
In Houck’s case, “prosecutors considered and declined a request for the defendant to self-surrender.” Apparently determined to make an example of Houck, the DOJ sent “16 FBI agents” to arrest him in front of his crying children.
“When faced with public backlash about the aggressive arrest, the Task Force Director attempted to blame the FBI, rather than address the Biden DOJ’s lack of initial guidance to law enforcement,” the report states. “The jury ultimately found Houck not guilty, and DOJ settled a civil claim to compensate for the Biden DOJ’s misconduct.” The settlement was for over $1 million.
Jordan Sekulow points out that “Shockingly, the report confirms that the DOJ learned of nearly every FACE Act case not from actual crime victims or local law enforcement, but from pro-abortion advocacy organizations. These NGOs were, in effect, driving federal charging decisions against Americans exercising their faith in public. This is not how the DOJ is supposed to operate. This is not equal protection under the law. This is weaponization.”
The Trump Department of Justice promises a new day—no selective prosecutions of perceived “enemies.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche vowed, “This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice. No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.
