By Tyler Arnold
June 25, 2024
Jun 25, 2024
Former President Donald Trump, a potential Republican candidate in the 2024 US presidential election, has expressed support for pro-life activists who have been aggressively prosecuted and imprisoned under Joe Biden’s administration.
Trump raised the issue during a speech on June 22 before the Faith and Freedom Coalition, where she specifically mentioned the case of Paulette Harlow, a 75-year-old Catholic who was convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. , for its acronym in English) this year.
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The US Department of Justice has prosecuted and convicted more than a dozen pro-life activists in 2024 based on federal law, which increases penalties for anyone who obstructs access to an abortion clinic. Harlow, who is in poor health, was sentenced in late May to 24 months in prison for participating in a blockade of an abortion clinic in Washington, DC.
“Paulette is one of the many peaceful pro-lifers that Joe Biden has rounded up, sometimes with SWAT teams, and thrown in jail,” Trump said. “A lot of people are in jail for this. … We’re going to take care of it right away, [el] first day”.
Trump added that if elected to another term as president, his administration “will quickly review the cases of all political prisoners who are unjust victims of the Biden regime, including Paulette, so we can get them out of the gulags and return them to their families.” where they belong.”
When asked for comment, the former president’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, did not elaborate on Trump’s promise. CNA specifically asked whether Trump would commit to pardoning Harlow and the other pro-life activists convicted of FACE Act violations during an eventual Trump administration.
During his speech, Trump said that Christians, and especially Catholics, are being persecuted under the country’s current government. The former president also reiterated his promise to create a federal task force to investigate anti-Christian bias and other forms of illegal discrimination against people of faith.
“We will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, in our hospitals and in our public square,” Trump said.
Trump also took credit for the US Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. He said that abortion policy was “returned to the states…where people [puede] vote and make your decisions.” He said that if Democrats “have their way, they will have a federal abortion law to tear the baby from the womb in the seventh, eighth and ninth month and even execute the baby after birth.”
For his part, Leavitt said the Biden administration has “waged a years-long assault on Christianity.” He added that under Biden, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) “conspired to infiltrate Catholic Masses to spy on attendees” and emphasized that as president, Trump “will end Biden’s discrimination.” against Christians and will defend religious freedom, as he did in his first term.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Tyler Arnold
Tyler Arnold is a reporter for the National Catholic Register. He previously worked at The Center Square and has published in various outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative and The Federalist.
