(LifeSiteNews) — This week, prosecutors filed additional cases against Red Rose Rescuers in Pennsylvania and New York, again raising concerns about the weaponization of the Department of Justice and the government’s use of lawfare against peaceful pro-life protesters.
The Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit on Monday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against a man for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The FACE Act is a federal statute that prohibits use of force, threats of force or physical obstruction against anyone for seeking or providing reproductive health services.”
The lawsuit alleges that, on Aug. 27, 2021, Matthew Connolly violated the FACE Act by intentionally creating a physical obstruction at a reproductive health clinic in Philadelphia, according to a Department of Justice press release.
LifeSiteNews reported on the incident at the time.
In particular, the complaint alleges that the defendant, after entering the clinic, barricaded himself inside one of the clinic’s bathrooms and that his actions forced the clinic to shut down for the day, requiring the intervention of the local police.
The complaint further claims that as a result at least 44 appointments had to be rescheduled. The complaint seeks monetary penalties and injunctive relief as provided by the FACE Act.
“This lawsuit against Matthew Connolly is another instance of a weaponized Department of Justice obsessed with persecuting non-violent pro-lifers who seek to simply defend unborn children scheduled for the violent act of abortion and offer help and compassion to their mothers,” Monica Migliorino Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, told LifeSiteNews in an email.
“Let’s be clear. Red Rose Rescues do not violate the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Those who participate do not physically obstruct or interfere with anyone’s freedom of movement!” Miller explained.
“Moreover, it is highly likely that the FACE law is unconstitutional,” she noted. “The DOJ is attempting to twist and stretch the language of this bad law to try and make what Red Rose Rescuers actually do fit that language.”
“If we were living in a world based on objective reality it is the so-called doctors who kill the innocent unborn who would be prosecuted, not those who honor the sanctity of life and seek to protect the innocent,” Miller added.
Nevertheless, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division contends that Connolly, “engaged in conduct calculated to shut down a reproductive health clinic for an entire day, forcing the evacuation of the clinic’s patients and obstructing access to reproductive health services.”
In New York, state Attorney General Letitia James filed a “Memorandum of law in support of motion for contempt,” ostensibly aimed at further enforcing a 2023 injunction meant to keep Red Rose Rescuers at least 15 feet away from abortion clinics.
The suit cites the repeated actions of Bernadette Patel, a pro-lifer who has ventured within that 15-foot limit at various abortion clinics in the state. However, according to Red Rose Rescue, Patel is not a member of the organization.
As such, the real target of the injunction sought by James appears to be Red Rose Rescue.
“This has got to be one of the most bogus lawsuits ever. Apparently, James doesn’t even know what the New York injunction states,” Miller told LifeSiteNews.
“The preliminary injunction only restricts persons who have an intent to violate the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act,” Miller noted.
“Bernadette Patel, who allegedly went within the ‘prohibited zone’ was well within her First Amendment rights – trying to reach out to women ready to kill their unborn children,” Miller continued. “She had no intention of conducting a Red Rose Rescue, and didn’t conduct one.”
“Moreover, Patel is not a ‘member’ of Red Rose Rescue – as Red Rose Rescue is not a formal group, it has no members, and she certainly was not reaching out to moms at NY area abortion centers as a member of Red Rose Rescue. She was conducting her own completely independent pro-life activity. Red Rose Rescue is a particular type of pro-life rescue activity in which people have participated – it is not an organization with members.”
“Our attorneys are confident that this complaint will be thrown out, as it should be. Hasn’t James better things to do with her time and New York taxpayer money?”
The DOJ’s unequal enforcement, justice
The FACE Act presumably protects abortion facilities, pro-life pregnancy centers, and churches alike from protesters blocking access to them, but the Daily Caller reported that, according to data provided by Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, between 1994 and 2024 there were 205 FACE Act prosecutions against abortion opponents and just six against abortion defenders. At least 55 of the pro-abortion prosecutions occurred during President Joe Biden’s tenure, and five of the six against pro-abortion obstructions.
Many Republican lawmakers and others have slammed the Biden administration for having “selectively enforced” the FACE Act to go after pro-lifers while failing to prosecute virtually any of the more than 100 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches since the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked.
The Biden administration’s dramatic bias in its prosecution of pro-lifers is evident from the fact that since May 2020 there have been at least 429 attacks on U.S. Catholic churches, with many including pro-abortion graffiti – yet there have been “no federal prosecutions in any of the cases, even though attacking a place of worship is a federal crime,” Catholic Vote has noted. Meanwhile, scores of pro-life individuals have been charged with FACE Act violations since 2022 by the DOJ’s own admission.
The FACE Act “has been politicized and abused to target peaceful pro-life advocates,” but not activists “who violently attacked” pro-life centers, said Erin Hawley, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) vice president of the Center for Life and Regulatory Practice. “Rather than abusing its power to target pro-life pregnancy centers, the DOJ should be protecting them and ensuring that women have access to real support and real health care.”