Conservatives and pro-life groups have long complained about the previous administration's unequal application of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, saying its selective enforcement against pro-life protesters had a chilling effect on sidewalk counseling and prayer.
A Department of Justice (DOJ) review found that Biden-era prosecutors sought an average sentence of 26.8 months for pro-life FACE Act defendants, compared with 12.3 months for pro-abortion defendants. It also alleged that the DOJ worked closely with pro-abortion organizations in identifying and pursuing pro-life activists.
But at the end of the day, potential punishment from the FACE Act is far less severe for initial offenders than what has been signed into law by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D).
"Gov. Sherrill has picked up here in New Jersey where Gov. Phil Murphy (D) left off the past eight years, and that is being obsessed with abortion and, of course, transgender-related services and procedures," Shawn Hyland, director of advocacy at the New Jersey Family Policy Center said on "Washington Watch" last week.
The FACE Act isn't exclusively an abortion-clinic law. It also protects people exercising religious freedom at a place of worship from force, threats or physical obstruction, and it protects houses of worship from certain property damage.
The New Jersey law doubles down on protections for abortion providers and extends that to providers of gender-mutilation procedures.
The law prohibits the physical obstruction of someone entering or leaving an abortion or gender facility.
It makes it illegal to intimidate, threaten or coerce someone because he or she is a patient, provider, volunteer or assistant at such facilities.
If it's determined that pro-life protesters are in violation of the law — perhaps for praying outside a clinic if a patient or provider told law enforcement they felt threatened — the first offenses could carry up to 18 months in prison, a $10,000 fine or both. Bodily injury of any kind could result in three to five years in prison; bodily injury deemed serious could result in five to 10 years in prison.
First offenses for non-violent obstruction under the FACE Act draw a maximum of six months in jail.
Sherrill calls it a "shield" law for New Jersey medical providers, Hyland told show host Jody Hice.
"But it goes way beyond protecting doctors into prosecuting pro-life advocates and any voices who would be open and critical of these procedures and these services. It goes beyond being a shield law because it goes beyond being a shield. It's a sword," Hyland said.
While many red states readily restrict abortion or gender manipulation procedures on minors, the new law limits New Jersey's cooperation with certain out-of-state investigations and legal proceedings concerning care that is protected under New Jersey law. It also protects patient information and professional licenses in specified circumstances.
The governor's office says the expanded law is intended to protect patients receiving gender-affirming care in New Jersey and the providers delivering it from what it calls "malicious" out-of-state legal actions.
Sherrill referenced "attacks" from the Trump administration on access to abortion and gender procedures and "attempts to impose restrictions across state borders."
"No one should fear intimidation or violence for seeking healthcare, and no healthcare professional should fear punishment from another state for providing care that is legal in New Jersey," she said at the bill signing.
New pro-abortion strategy
The law is keeping step with a strategical change for the pro-abortion movement, Hyland said.
"For years, the pro-abortion movement in our state and probably in our nation was about increasing access or increasing funding. Now they've changed tactics. Now it's about silencing voices of dissent who disagree and want to expose the harm of these procedures," he said.
Earlier versions of the bill before it passed the legislature and was signed by Sherrill were even more damaging.
"It said if anyone caused a doctor or medical provider who does abortion or gender transitioning services on children, if you were to cause them any type of mental anguish or emotional distress, if you were to cause them to lose business, if you would hurt their reputation somehow, you would be guilty of a fourth-degree crime," Hyland said.
