Chip Roy Vows To Force GOP Vote On Repealing ‘Hyper-Politicized’ FACE Act

Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy intends to force his GOP colleagues to vote on his legislation repealing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, he told the Daily Caller in an interview March 4. 

Roy reintroduced a repeal of the FACE Act in January after the Biden administration’s repeated weaponization of the law against pro-life protestors.

“Well, first of all, I’ve reintroduced the FACE Act legislation here in this Congress, and we expect that we get a vote on that,” Roy said. “I mean, this is, this is a straightforward issue, this is legislation that has been hyper-politicized and abused by weaponizing the Department of Justice and prosecuting Americans for simply exercising free speech rights that believe in life. It’s unacceptable.”

He told the Caller he anticipates some Republicans will not support the bill and suggested he would “have to start looking at ways to move that bill on the floor independently.” 

“I’m not going to let it just sit and languish because there’s three or four Republicans who kind of bark at it. We need to unite and move that bill. It’’s common sense,” he said. 

Roy said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation on March 6 that he would file a discharge petition, a congressional procedure that allows a majority of the House to move a bill to the floor without a report from its assigned committee.

The FACE Act, which President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994, bans the use or threat of physical force or intimidation to hinder someone from trying to obtain an abortion or exercise their right to religious freedom at a place of worship. The act has been used to prosecute pro-life activists who protest outside of abortion facilities. (RELATED: As Trump Hands Out Pardons, Republicans Begin Planning How To Undo Years Of Government Abuse)

Roy referred to President Trump’s pardoning of the 23 pro-life activists who were prosecuted by the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice. Some were handed multi-year prison sentences after peacefully protesting outside of abortion clinics and allegedly violating the FACE Act, including an elderly survivor of a Communist prison camp. 

Department of Justice data shows that 97% of all FACE Act prosecutions were brought against pro-life protesters, despite the law also applying to pro-life pregnancy centers and places of religious worship, the Daily Caller exclusively reported in July 2024. The Biden administration levied more than a quarter of the total charges brought under the FACE Act. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: DOJ Data Confirms Conservative Fears Biden Weaponized Justice System)

Roy told the Caller that pro-life protestors should be guaranteed free speech protections barring local laws that prohibit certain kinds of protest. 

“There are things you cannot do, [protestors] know what those are, and if they cross those lines, they’re going to have to deal with local laws. But this is, again, where judgment matters, and the FACE Act should not be applied to them,” Roy said.