CV NEWS FEED // Congressman Chip Roy, R-TX, has introduced a bill that, if passed, would repeal the controversial Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

The Biden administration has used the FACE Act to justify the arrests of numerous pro-life activists and protestors. While some, such as Mark Houck, were subsequently acquitted, others, such as Lauren Handy and her four co-defendants, were convicted on their charges and face significant prison sentences. 

“Free Americans should never live in fear of their government targeting them because of their beliefs,” Roy told The Daily Signal after introducing the bill. “Yet, Biden’s Department of Justice has brazenly weaponized the FACE Act against normal, everyday Americans across the political spectrum, simply because they are pro-life.”

Roy said the U.S. Constitution “separates power between the federal government and the states for a reason, and we ignore that safeguard at our own peril.” Roy called the FACE Act “an unconstitutional federal takeover of state police powers” that “must be repealed.”

The FACE Act was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton in 1994. The Senate version of the bill was introduced by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA, a self-professed Catholic who, since the mid-1970s, was staunchly pro-abortion. The House’s version of the legislation was sponsored by Rep. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, who is now the Senate Majority Leader.

The Signal noted that the law was originally intended to protect “both abortion clinics and pro-life pregnancy centers, but the [Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ)] has widely used it to charge pro-life activists with FACE violations since the Supreme Court’s June 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade.”

“Roy also led an effort to defund enforcement of the FACE Act in April 2023, but the proposal largely died when it was not included in the House Appropriations subcommittee draft,” the Singal added.

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