The pardons came ahead of Friday's annual anti-#abortion protest March for Life in Washington.

Anti-abortion advocates had been pushing for #Trump to #pardon the anti-abortion protesters charged with violating the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which is intended to protect #AbortionClinics from #obstruction & #threats & was adopted amid a rise in #violence against #AbortionProviders.

#ReproductiveRights #CivilRights #WomensRights #Healthcare #privacy #MaleSupremacy #law #USpol

The 8 people in the #Michigan case who received #Trump #pardons are Calvin & Eva Zastrow, Chester Ghallagher, Heather Idoni, Caroline Davis, Joel Curry, Justin Phillips & Eva Edl.

A federal jury #convicted 7 of the defendants in Aug in connection w/their blockade of an #AbortionClinic in Sterling Heights on Aug 27, 2020.

An 8th defendant, Davis, took a plea deal & was sentenced to a year of probation in Sept.

#ReproductiveRights #CivilRights #WomensRights #Healthcare #privacy #law #USpol

Aside from religious defenses, Art Weiss, an atty for Calvin Zastrow, said his client believed the use of #FACE Act was unconstitutional since it relied in part on #RoeVWade, which #SCOTUS overturned prior to the cases.

Weiss also criticized the charges for #conspiracy against rights. The #CivilRights statute makes it illegal to conspire to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate people exercising their rights [which is exactly what the 8 people did].

#Trump #pardons #ReproductiveRights #law