As President Donald Trump begins his second term, the Thomas More Society has an urgent suggestion for one of his first acts: pardon peaceful pro-lifers convicted under the FACE Act.

“These peaceful pro-life Americans mistreated by Biden include grandparents, pastors, a Holocaust survivor, and a Catholic priest—all are selfless, sincere patriots,” lawyers from the society wrote in a petition to the Trump administration. “Their respective plights and personal information are provided in attachments to this letter. We respectfully urge that all 21 of them detailed here are richly deserving of full and unconditional pardons.”

It’s hard to believe that in the “freest” nation in the world, the U.S. government is jailing individuals for exercising their First Amendment rights, while ignoring violent arsonists and activists. It’s critical that Trump’s administration prioritize restoring justice to weaponized government agencies that have persecuted pro-lifers and Catholics with impunity.

It’s also critical that he pardon peaceful pro-life advocates unjustly persecuted under the Freedom to Access Clinic Entrances Act. Among many shocking examples of the Biden administration’s persecution of pro-life advocates was its weaponization of the FACE Act, a Clinton-era law intended to protect abortion clinics, pro-life centers, and Catholic churches from violence, threats, or attack. Infringements of the FACE Act carry up to 11 years in jail and up to $500,000 in fines.

Instead of applying the law how it was intended, the Biden administration exploited the wording of FACE to persecute pro-life advocates who perform “prayer protests” inside abortion clinics, which often involve peacefully praying and singing hymns. Though many pro-lifers may disagree with these activists’ choice to enter and obstruct abortion clinics, no one can dispute that these “protests” and prayers do not pose a threat to abortion clinic staffers in any way.

Yet the Biden administration aggressively sought to jail pro-life Americans for these protests, seeking to impose the maximum sentence of up to 11 years and fine them up to $500,000 for allegedly posing a threat to clinic staffers. Even elderly death-camp survivor Eva Edl was not spared the Biden administration’s wrath and now faces the prospect of living out her last years on earth behind bars for peacefully protesting.

This disturbing obsession with jailing elderly and peaceful pro lifers becomes even more concerning when compared with the Biden administration’s disregard for pro-life centers, which have suffered violent, expensive, and traumatizing attacks for over two years now. Since May of 2022, pro-abortion radicals have vandalized, firebombed, and threatened 95 pro-life organizations across America.

The Biden administration’s response was mere words — if even. The Biden administration’s DOJ only charged pro-abortion activists in two of the 95 attacks. This is despite the fact that even former FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted in sworn congressional testimony that 70% of post-Dobbs violence has been directed at pro-life organizations.

Every American should recognize that this unequal application of the law is unjust. Now, as the Trump administration takes office, it’s essential that our leaders work to clean up weaponized government agencies and restore truth, impartiality, and justice to them. Such clean-up necessitates revisiting the unjust sentencing of pro-life advocates and a full pardon for them.