Justice Department report confirms selective prosecution of pro-life activists [News Analysis]

April 16, 2026

The US Department of Justice has released a report confirming that during the Biden administration, federal prosecutors “weaponized” their enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinics (FACE) Act, aggressively pursuing pro-life activists while downplaying criminal offenses by abortion supporters.

This week’s release of the Justice Department report—a 37-page text supported by hundreds of pages of supporting documentation—came along with the news that four federal prosecutors had been dismissed because of their role in the selective prosecution.

The week also brought the announcement that one prominent pro-life activist had won a legal settlement of over $1 million to settle a lawsuit that he had filed after becoming one of the most conspicuous targets of selective prosecution.

Federal prosecutors had sent a SWAT team to raid the home of Mark Houck in September, 2022, awakening his family at gunpoint and arresting him on charges of a FACE Act violation. Those charges stemmed from a scuffle that occurred outside an abortion clinic almost a year earlier, when Houck defended his young son from an abortion supporter who had been harassing him. A local court had acquitted Houck of minor charges, but the Biden administration how threatened him on felony charges that could have resulted in a 10-year prison sentence.

After Houck was acquitted of those federal charges, he and his wife filed the lawsuit charging malicious prosecution, saying that the trauma of the early-morning arrest had caused significant emotional damage to their family.

But while Houck’s case ended in a legal victory of the pro-life activist, many other pro-lifers were targeted by the DOJ, the internal report found. In a review of over 700,000 internal documents, the Trump administration’s Justice Department found that previous prosecutors had consistently pursued tougher charges against pro-lifers. During the Biden administration, prosecutors asked for an average prison sentence of almost 27 months for FACE Act violations by pro-lifers, but just over one year for pro-abortion activists facing similar charges, even if violent acts were involved.

The Justice Department had also been far more likely to file criminal charges against pro-lifers than against abortion supporters charged with FACE violations, the report showed. The prosecutors also authorized raids on the pro-lifer’s homes to arrest them rather than allowing them to turn themselves in.

Moreover, the internal investigation by the DOJ found that federal officials had shared information with organizations promoting abortion, such as Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation. Federal investigators provided those groups with detailed information about pro-life activist, and in turn those groups furnished the DOJ with further details about their opponents.

Finally, the DOJ report disclosed that federal prosecutors had withheld evidence from attorneys representing pro-lifers, and sought to screen potential jury members to eliminate devout Christians.

In announcing the findings of the report, Todd Blanche, the acting Attorney General, said: “This department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice.” He pledged: “The weaponization that happened under the Biden administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”

However Blanche’s pledge relies entirely on his assumption that the Justice Department will remain in the hands of prosecutors who share his commitment to equal enforcement of federal law. If the presidency changes hands in 2028, and the DOJ is once again run by politicians who share the priorities of the Biden administration, the selective prosecution of pro-life activists could quickly resume.

-PFL

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