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May 15, 2023

Students for Life Action Applauds House Judiciary Committee for “Tackling the Viewpoint Discrimination Poisoning the Department of Justice As Seen in the Abuse of the FACE Act”

“As Pregnancy Care Centers have burned and pro-life volunteers with groups like Students for Life are threatened and attacked, the Biden Administration’s so-called Justice Department sees no evil. But praying pro-lifers offend their sensibilities. That viewpoint discrimination must be challenged,” said SFLAction’s Kristan Hawkins. “We look forward to the hearing where we hope to learn more about how abortion supporters are putting their finger on the scale in favor of abortion and how to stop it.”  

TUESDAY HEARING: Revisiting the Implications of the FACE ACT, Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government (Committee on the Judiciary). 
10 a.m. ET, 2141 RHOB, Washington D.C. 
MEDIA ADVISORY: SFLAction’s’ Savanna Deretich will be available for comment. 
Press Conference: Revisiting Implications of the FACE Act
Date: Tuesday, May 16; Time: 1:00pm; Location: House Triangle 

Chairman Mike Johnson invites you to join witnesses and members of the House Committee on the Judiciary and Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government for a press conference highlighting the unequal treatment of pro-life pregnancy centers by the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice. This event will be livestreamed on the House Judiciary website and is open to the press. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (05-15-2023) – Students for Life of America/SFLAction President Kristan Hawkins applauded the House Judiciary Committee for addressing the abuse of the FACE Act as it is applied to peaceful, pro-life Americans. The Daily Signal reports, “In 2022 alone, the DOJ Civil Rights Division charged 26 pro-life individuals with FACE Act violations.” And yet the FACE Act,  which “prohibits threats of force, obstruction and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services,” is supposed to apply to protecting pregnancy care centers as well.  


FOR MORE ON THE STORY OF MARK HOUCK, who is to be featured during the Tuesday hearing, read: Weaponized FBI & DOJ Arrest Pro-Lifers, Ignore Pro-Abortion Violence 

In planned remarks for a news conference to take place prior to the Tuesday hearing, Students for Life Action Government Affairs Coordinator Savanna Deretich will discuss the following:  

“The pro-life movement has become increasingly concerned about the injustice experienced by pro-life organizations and activists when dealing with federal agencies, particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice through their misuse of the FACE Act … It has become progressively obvious that this law is being wielded by the federal agencies in a discriminatory manner towards the pro-life movement. This includes using the FACE Act as a cover to disproportionately discriminate against pro-life activists who have not violated the law, as well as agencies turning a blind eye when pro-life pregnancy resource centers are damaged or destroyed by the abortion lobby. ”   

As Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins wrote for Newsweek:   

“Threats and acts of violence against pro-life activists are becoming increasingly common. Students for Life students and team members have endured everything from physical attacks and arson to bomb threats and intimidation, making security issues a vital concern and expense for pro-life events. When Justice Brett Kavanaugh—who was seen as a possible pro-life vote—was confirmed to the Supreme Court, protestors stormed the Court, banging on the doors. Outside the U.S., violent protests broke out in Poland and Latin America when those countries contemplated pro-life policies. Antifa has protested my own speaking tours …  Some abortion supporters are pairing their advocacy for the violence of abortion with violent acts, which have a definite chilling effect on public discourse that must be overcome.  

When people are afraid to use their free speech rights, those rights don’t truly exist. 

And where are the prosecutions for crimes against more than 72 crisis pregnancy centers and 80 Catholic churches that have been attacked or vandalized since the Dobbs leak? 

Instead, overzealous prosecutions of people like Mark Houck illustrate that a weaponized Department of Justice is practicing viewpoint discrimination in prosecutorial choices made. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE FACE ACT: Check out SFLA’s blog: Know Before You Go: Every Pro-Lifer Should Be Aware of This Federal Law (And Its Consequences)  

For interviews, contact Kristi Hamrick at [email protected]

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Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), make up the nation’s largest pro-life youth organization and a political and policy operation engaging people of all ages. Together they work to end abortion — the human rights issue of our day — and provide political, legal, and community support for women and their children, born and preborn. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA has more than 1,400 groups on middle, high school, college, university, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. SFLA creates strategy, policy, and programming to connect those most targeted for abortion with people ready to help and builds a framework for political engagement on their behalf. SFLA and SFLAction have more conversations with those most targeted by the abortion industry than any other pro-life outreach in the world, reaching more than 2 million people across social media platforms each week and engaging in approximately 100,000 digital conversations per month. Over more than 16 years, President Kristan Hawkins has grown SFLAction/SFLA into an $18 million organization preparing for a Post-Roe America.