FACE It: There Is a Double Standard

Democrats are HOWLING about the Trump administration’s use of the FACE Act against the activists who invaded a church, harassed parishioners, broke one of their arms, left children in tears and traumatized, and violated their First Amendment rights. 

Minnesota’s Attorney General, who has himself been a great fan of the FACE Act in the past, now argues that if you have the right kind of cause, the FACE Act should not apply. Some leftists are now even arguing that the FACE Act is unconstitutional. 

This is quite the reversal. The FACE Act used to be quite popular with Democrats, and Joe Biden aggressively pursued FACE Act charges against abortion protesters who did little else than pray outside clinics. His Justice Department even spent years and deployed FBI Swat teams to arrest abortion protesters, and prosecuted a concentration camp survivor for sitting in her wheelchair and praying. 

2/ In September 2022, the FBI sent 20 armed agents to conduct an early morning raid at the home of Mark Houck, a Catholic father who does street preaching near abortion clinics.

A year earlier, Houck had gotten into a brief scuffle with a Planned Parenthood volunteer who was… pic.twitter.com/UStlT1epih

— Kristen Waggoner (@KristenWaggoner) February 5, 2026

2/ In September 2022, the FBI sent 20 armed agents to conduct an early morning raid at the home of Mark Houck, a Catholic father who does street preaching near abortion clinics.

A year earlier, Houck had gotten into a brief scuffle with a Planned Parenthood volunteer who was harassing Houck’s 12-year-old son on a sidewalk outside a clinic. Although local law enforcement filed no charges, the Biden admin dramatically arrested Houck, charging him under the FACE Act.

A jury quickly found Houck not guilty, with the judge noting that federal law “seem[ed] to be stretched a little thin here.”

The FACE Act was passed as a way to limit protests at abortion clinics and protests at places of worship. The connection may seem a bit odd to you until you realize that abortion is a sacrament to liberals, more or less equivalent to baptism for Christians. In any case, the law is clear: you may not interfere with either the practice of abortion or of worship. 

4/ In 2024, the Biden DOJ secured a FACE Act conviction against 88-year-old Eva Edl. A Soviet concentration camp survivor, Eva was convicted for sitting in her wheelchair in front of the entrance to an abortion clinic, singing and praying.

Because the Biden DOJ tacked on a… pic.twitter.com/ddkBrYCAgf

— Kristen Waggoner (@KristenWaggoner) February 5, 2026

4/ In 2024, the Biden DOJ secured a FACE Act conviction against 88-year-old Eva Edl. A Soviet concentration camp survivor, Eva was convicted for sitting in her wheelchair in front of the entrance to an abortion clinic, singing and praying.

Because the Biden DOJ tacked on a “conspiracy against rights” charge, Eva faced a sentence of up to 11 years in federal prison, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars.

She was eventually sentenced to probation and later pardoned by President Trump.

No president was as aggressive in enforcing the FACE Act as Biden, and liberals cheered him on. Keith Ellison, who had asked for the FACE Act to be used against protesters who were outside a Mosque when he was a Congressman, now believes that storming a church and harassing parishioners is “First Amendment activity.” It’s not the what, but the who, when it comes to applying the law. 

At @ADFLegal, we have consistently called on Congress to repeal the FACE Act, due to constitutional concerns and its long history of uneven enforcement.

But it’s quite rich for abortion activists to argue that the Trump administration is targeting its “political opponents” and…

— Kristen Waggoner (@KristenWaggoner) February 5, 2026

Few things made that clearer than the rash of attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers, which are also protected by the FACE Act, under the Biden administration. As the Justice Department hunted down people who merely prayed outside abortion clinics, they ignored the actual destruction of centers that helped women in need who wanted to keep their babies. 

Killing babies and defending illegal alien felons are considered by leftists so holy that the full force of the state must be deployed against anybody who is on the wrong side of these issues in the left’s eyes. Destroying property, impeding law enforcement, setting up actual checkpoints, and invading private places of worship are to be glorified. 

Praying for the lives of unborn children should be vigorously punished. 

The “Nobody is above the law” crowd has the advantage of a multi-billion-dollar propaganda institution called the “press,” which gets on its high horse about the First Amendment when it suits them, while cheering on the prosecution of people they dislike. 

“For my friends, everything. For my enemies, the law.” 

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