The Biden administration "weaponized" federal law against pro-lifers, according to a more than 800-page report issued by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The April 14 report details how the Justice Department under Biden weaponized the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, including collaboration with pro-abortion groups to target pro-life advocates.
The report said the Justice Department "affirmatively asked pro-abortion groups about pro-life individuals' travel and constitutionally protected advocacy," the Justice Department's press release on the report indicated.
"The Biden DOJ and career attorneys monitored pro-life activists for years before charging them," the press release stated.
The Justice Department also said: "Prosecutors knowingly withheld evidence that defense counsel requested to prepare an affirmative defense, tried to screen out jurors based on religion, and authorized aggressive arrest tactics instead of allowing pro-life defendants to self-surrender."
The Biden administration also "helped a pro-abortion group secure funding" and "pursued significantly harsher sentences for pro-life defendants than violent pro-abortion defendants," according to the department.
"No department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
Arkansas lawsuit challenges laws that protect unborn babies
Six women and an OB-GYN, Dr. Chad Taylor, filed a lawsuit against Arkansas laws protecting unborn children, saying that the laws are unconstitutional.
In an April 9 motion, two women joined the original four in the lawsuit, asking the court to halt Arkansas's laws protecting unborn children through a preliminary injunction.
The 75-page motion alleged that the pro-life laws are unconstitutional per the state constitution and that the laws "lack any rational relationship to protecting life, health, or any other legitimate state interest."
Filed by Amplify Legal, the litigation arm of Abortion in America, the motion is the latest development in an ongoing lawsuit that began on Feb. 2.
The lawsuit highlighted testimonies from women who were denied abortions by their state, including one who sought an abortion for her ectopic pregnancy out of state after local hospitals were unhelpful, as well as women seeking abortions for babies with life-threatening issues or who were conceived by rape.
Ectopic pregnancies are life-threatening for both the mother and the baby. Arkansas law allows abortions in life-threatening situations "to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency."
Every state in the U.S. allows abortion if the woman's life is at risk.
Pro-life groups call out Justice Department for siding with abortion drug industry
More than 70 pro-life groups urged the U.S. Department of Justice to "stop siding with the abortion drug industry against pro-life states" in a letter this week.
Addressed to acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, the letter highlights the harm of the federal policy allowing mail-order abortion drugs on both women and the integrity of state laws.
Louisiana, Florida, and Texas, and Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas sued the FDA in three separate cases, seeking to protect their citizens from the harms of abortion drugs and to halt policies that undermine their state laws. The Justice Department dismissed all three cases.
"Tragically, to date, this Department of Justice has downplayed the harms of mail-order abortion and called for each case to be paused or even dismissed entirely," the April 13 letter read.
"When abortion drugs are available through the mail, there is no accountability, state laws are made impotent, and women and girls are hurt. This is a harmful and politically dangerous path," the letter continued.
"The DOJ and FDA have the authority and the duty to act immediately," SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. "Voters across the board strongly support it and the GOP base demands it."
Judge rules Oregon law requiring insurance to cover abortion is unconstitutional
A federal judge in Oregon ruled that a state law requiring insurance plans to cover abortion and contraception violates the constitutional rights of Oregon Right to Life, a group that advocates against abortion.
The temporary ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Mustafa Kasubhai this week is a win for the pro-life group, but the full ruling won't be available for at least another week.
The ruling found that the state's 2017 Reproductive Health Equity Act can't apply to Oregon Right to Life. The law compels all health insurance companies to "not impose on an enrollee a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement" for contraceptives and abortions. The law has an exemption for religious beliefs but not conscience rights.
Oregon Right to Life sued in 2023, saying that while it did not qualify for the religious exemption, the law violated the group's First Amendment rights. In 2024, a different federal judge disqualified Oregon Right to Life from the exemption because it was not a religious organization. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed this ruling in 2025.
Oregon Right to Life Director Lois Anderson called the recent ruling "a victory for all pro-life Oregonians."
