Prosecutors Withheld Key Evidence in Cases Against Abortion Clinic Protesters: DOJ

Federal prosecutors withheld evidence as they prosecuted people who protested at abortion clinics, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on April 14.

The DOJ Weaponization Working Group’s first report delved into what the Trump administration described as the Biden administration’s weaponization of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a federal law that prohibits injuring or interfering with people who obtain or provide abortions or pregnancy services.

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi established the working group in 2025 to target the alleged weaponization of the DOJ.

In investigating FACE Act prosecutions brought by the DOJ through January 2025, or during the previous administration, the group determined that DOJ prosecutors “knowingly withheld evidence that defense counsel requested to prepare an affirmative defense” and “falsely claimed to not have such information available.”

The group also concluded that the DOJ enforced the law in a biased manner through its National Task Force on Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers.

“Though the FACE Act was supposed to protect both pro-choice and pro-life facilities, Biden DOJ senior leadership and Task Force Members provided extensive support to abortion clinics, yet the Biden DOJ often ignored and downplayed vandalism and attacks against pregnancy resource centers or houses of worship,” the 882-page report, released on April 14, stated.

The investigation also found evidence that DOJ personnel worked with groups that support abortion to track activists who oppose abortion.

In multiple cases, abortion advocate groups flagged specific activists and prosecutors later charged those activists.

The working group also said that prosecutors sought harsher sentences for pro-life defendants than those requested for people in favor of abortion who were charged with violent crimes.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that the DOJ “will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice.”

“No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs,” he said. “The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”

Shortly after taking office in January 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned many people who had been prosecuted under the FACE Act during the Biden administration.

The DOJ has dismissed several cases and settled others as it looks to address the injustices perpetrated against individuals who protested at abortion clinics, the department said.

“The behavior unearthed in this report is shameful,” Assistant Attorney General Daniel Burrows said in a statement. “Lawyers who should have known better withheld evidence, worked to keep committed religious people off juries, and generally allowed the Department of Justice to be used as the enforcement arm of pro-abortion special interests.”