A pro-life activist who is in prison for blocking an entrance to a D.C. abortion clinic said he is hopeful about being pardoned next month once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Jonathan Darnel, 43, talked to The Washington Times from Thomson FCI in Illinois about how he would use his freedom, should he be released, to help repeal the federal law that has sent dozens of anti-abortion demonstrators to jail during the Biden administration.
In 2020, Darnel was part of a group of 10 pro-life protesters who infiltrated an abortion clinic and chained up the entrance. All have been convicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, and are serving federal prison time.
The harshest sentence was given to Lauren Handy, a prominent figure in the anti-abortion movement who was found with five fetuses in her home when she was charged two years ago.
Darnel said his time in lockup has given him time to evaluate “problems in the justice system.”
Darnel said that starts with Mr. Trump cleaning house at the agencies that the activist feels selectively enforced the FACE Act — a 30-year-old law that prohibits someone from blocking access to both abortion clinics and pro-life pregnancy centers.
Since Mr. Biden took office, 32 of the 34 people convicted under the law were pro-life activists. That’s despite nearly 100 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers since the landmark Roe v. Wade case was overturned in May 2022.
“All the agents and other people who went along with the FACE Act enforcement need to be removed from their positions,” Darnel said over the phone. “There can no longer be a FACE Act during the Trump administration.”
Republicans on Capitol Hill appear to agree with him.
Last week, Texas Rep. Chip Roy chaired a hearing on repealing the FACE Act.
Testifying at the hearing was Paul Vaughn, a pro-life activist who was arrested by armed FBI agents over a year after he prayed with protesters outside of a Tennessee abortion clinic in March 2021. He was sentenced to three years of supervised release.
Another woman awaiting sentencing is 89-year-old Eva Edl, a wheelchair user and Soviet concentration camp survivor who was found guilty for her role in a Michigan blockade in 2020. She still awaits sentencing in her case but could face up to 11 years behind bars.
Erin Hawley, an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom, testified at the congressional hearing that federal prosecutors are beefing up the charges against pro-life demonstrators by hitting them with “conspiracy against rights” offenses.
“The Trump administration should consider pardoning and commuting the sentences of FACE Act defendants who have been victims of this targeted harassment,” Mr. Roy said. “Unequal application of the law is not truly law. It is tyranny.”
As for Darnel, the Arlington, Virginia, resident said he is fortunate there is not much violence at his low-security prison because “everyone wants to get out.”
He also said he’s focused less on his pro-life advocacy behind bars, but he has shared his faith with the other inmates. Darnel said he’s seen some prisoners become closer with God during his time, while others see repentance as a weakness.
The sad reality about prison, he says, is that some inmates are beyond rehabilitation. The only good they can do for society is to be removed from it.
But he wanted his sentence to serve as a reminder to other pro-life activists that prison, while nowhere near ideal, is not the end of the world.
“Some people were willing to go all the way for their beliefs — to go to prison,” Darnel said at one point. He added later that “pro-lifers should not be fearful about doing what is right,” even if that involves the possibility of being locked up.
• Valerie Richardson contributed to this report.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.