Trump pardons anti-abortion activists ahead of rally
US President Donald Trump has pardoned 23 anti-abortion activists, some of whom were convicted of blocking a reproductive health clinic and intimidating staff and patients.
Pardon was part of a round of executive orders signed by Trump on Thursday, one of several in the first week of his presidency.
Trump described the convictions as “ridiculous”, but abortion rights campaigners said the move was evidence of his opposition to abortion access.
The orders came a day before anti-abortion protesters were due to come to Washington DC for the annual March for Life, which the president is due to address by videolink.
In 2020, Trump became the first sitting president to attend the rally in person, although George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan have also addressed it remotely.
Vice President JD Vance will participate in person this time.
The rally has been held in the US capital every year since 1974, a year after abortion was legalized by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade.
Abortion rights have been a key issue in the recent presidential race and the court overturned the decision in 2022.
Signing the pardon, Trump said of the workers: “They should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people… It’s a great honor to sign this. They’ll be very happy. “
US media report that one of those people, Lauren Handy, is the leader of the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Rebellion (PAAU).
The group was convicted of conspiring to storm a Washington reproductive health clinic in 2020 and block access to intimidate patients and staff. The members forced their way into the Surgi-Clinic and spent several hours inside, injuring a nurse.
Handy was found guilty in August 2023 and sentenced in May 2024.
His supporters apologized, saying that the beliefs were political.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the protesters were targeted by Joe Biden’s Justice Department and thanked Trump for “promptly delivering on his promise” to pardon them.
But abortion rights activists said the pardon confirmed their belief that Trump was anti-abortion, despite declaring during his presidential campaign that it was up to individual states to decide whether to allow the practice.
Ryan Stitzlin of the national abortion rights organization Reproductive Freedom for All told the AP news agency: “On the campaign trail Donald Trump tried to have it both ways – bragging about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade. That he was not going to take action on abortion.
“We never believed it was true, and this shows us we were right.”
