Fact Check: White House Falsely Claims Pro-Life Activists Are Not Being Locked Up

Pro-Life Movement
Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton

CLAIM: The White House on Monday claimed that pro-life activists are not being criminally charged by President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.

VERDICT: False.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday was asked about former President Donald Trump’s claims that President Joe Biden’s administration is “locking up pro-life activists,” and “persecuting their political opponents.”

Jean-Pierre told reporters, “clearly, that’s not true” when asked for the White House’s official response to Trump’s claims.

“Clearly, that’s not true. I’m not gonna say more than that. It’s just not true. It’s false. It’s a lie. It’s not true. So I’m gonna move on,” Jean-Pierre said.

However, Jean-Pierre conveniently ignored the raid and arrest of Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck last month.

As Breitbart News reported:

Mark Houck, the founder and president of The King’s Men — a group dedicated to helping men become better husbands, fathers, and leaders — was arrested at his rural Pennsylvania home on Friday for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act during his regular sidewalk counseling outside of an abortion clinic in 2021. Speaking with LifeSiteNews, Houck’s wife, Ryan-Marie, said that around 25 to 30 fully-armored FBI agents stormed their property early Friday morning, aiming their rifles as the children screamed in horror.

Houck faces up to 11 years in federal prison and $350,000 in fines for allegedly violating the FACE Act.

In addition, last month, Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) charged 11 pro-life protesters with violating federal law for blocking access to abortion clinics.

As the National Review reported:

The FBI also reportedly raided the home of Chester Gallagher, the organizer of the protest and one of the accused conspirators, on Tuesday with guns drawn, pro-life activist AJ Hurley told Live Action News. He said Gallagher’s neighbors told him Gallagher was out of state when the FBI showed up and entered his home.

Gallagher allegedly advertised a series of pro-life events on social media for March 2021 in the Nashville area. The indictment claims he and other coordinators recruited participants to travel to the city and erect a blockade, which Gallagher allegedly called a “rescue,” at Carafem Health Center Clinic in Mount Juliet, Tenn., to prevent pregnant women from pursuing abortions.

“These people went out and beautifully, silently protested, and they’re in jail now,” Trump said of the pro-life activists during a Nevada rally last month. “They were protesting outside of abortion clinics and [the government] are charging them with crimes punishable with up to 11 years in prison. In many cases, they’re grandparents and elderly people.”

Jean-Pierre also refused to comment about the violence seen at pro-life pregnancy centers in the aftermath of the unprecedented Supreme Court leak.

“It is just — that is just not something that I’m going to comment from here about what the former president said,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.

However, as Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alex Marlow reported in his “summer of rage” series, a network of far-left militant groups orchestrated targeted attacks on pro-life institutions nationwide.

As of September, the Family Research Council (FRC) reported that there had been nearly 100 attacks on churches, pro-life organizations, and pregnancy resource centers since the Court’s Dobbs decision was leaked in May.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter. 

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.