Washington (AP) – The new Directorate of the Ministry of Justice of President Donald Trump published a prescription on Friday to reduce proceedings against those accused of having blocked access to abortion clinics and reproductive health centers, qualifying these cases as an “militarization” of the police.
Civil proceedings and actions under the law on freedom of access to the entrances to clinics or “Face law” will now be authorized only in “extraordinary circumstances” or in cases with “significant aggravating factors”, Declared the chief of staff to the Attorney General Chad Mizelle in a note sent. to the head of the Department’s civil rights division.
Mizelle also ordered the immediate rejection of three cases related to the Face law linked to clinical blockages in 2021. Tennessee,, Pennsylvania And Ohio.
The memo marks a radical change compared to the Ministry of Justice under the Biden administration, which has initiated prosecution involving dozens of accused accused of having violated the law. The law prohibits physically hindering or using the threat of force to intimidate or interfere with a person looking for reproductive health services, and prohibits damaging goods in abortion clinics and other centers.
The legal group Thomas More Society, which represents many accused, described this decision as a “major moment in the fight against the face”.
“In each of these three affairs related to the Face law, the lawyers of the Thomas More Society represented several courageous and peaceful pro-life accused-who can now breathe quietly without the heavy burden of federal prosecutors on their backs. »» said the group on Friday.
This announcement comes a few hours after Trump is committed to supporting tens of thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators when walking on Friday, declaring: “We will be proud of families and life again” in a Pre -recorded speech. One day earlier, Trump had pardoned several anti-abortion activists Available to have blocked the entries of abortion clinics in the face of the Face law, which aims to protect abortion clinics against obstructions and threats.
“President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise to end the militarization of the federal government and recently ordered all the federal departments and agencies to identify and correct the past militarization of the police,” wrote Mizelle in the note obtained by the Associated Press.
“For many Americans, civil proceedings and actions under the law on freedom of access to the entries of clinics (” Face law “) were the typical example of this militarization. And for good reason, “he wrote.
Mizelle, who was appointed chief of staff to the attorney general chosen by Trump, Pam Bondi, said that “more than 100 emergency pregnancy centers, pro-life organizations and churches were attacked immediately after” the decision of the United States Supreme Court according to which canceled roe v. Wade. However, almost all of the lawsuits under the Face law have been directed against anti-abortion demonstrators, he wrote.
“It is not an equitable administration of justice,” he wrote.
Vice-president JD Vance, who addressed himself in person to the crowd during the march for life, celebrated the grace granted to the accused of the law in front and called Trump as “the most pro-life of our life ”.
Defenders of the right to abortion criticized the graces granted by Trump to people who are guilty of having violated the law, which was adopted in 1994 at a time when the protests and blockages of clinics were multiplied. violence against abortion providerslike the murder of Dr David Gunn.
“Barely a week after the start of his presidency, Donald Trump ignored the law and gave the green light to violence against abortion providers, all to the detriment of people who wish to live in peace and exercise safely Their right to control their own body and health “, Krista Noah. , National Director of Safety of Affiliates and Planning the Response to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said on Thursday.