DOJ Slashes Enforcement of Law Protecting Reproductive Health

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The Department of Justice ordered Attorney General Chad Mizelle to enforce the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act only in “extraordinary circumstances” or after death, extreme bodily harm or significant property damage occur. 

Mizelle then ordered federal law enforcement to leave most FACE Act violations for state or local law enforcement to handle. Specifically, “Until further notice, no new abortion-related FACE Act actions — criminal or civil — will be permitted without authorization from the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.”

Under the FACE Act, it is against the law to harm, threaten or interfere with a person who is “obtaining or providing reproductive health services” or to damage a facility “because such facility provides reproductive health.”

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