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President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order Thursday relating to clemency for anti-abortion protesters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
* Ben Curtis, Associated Press
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Participants in the annual March for Life walk Friday from the Washington Monument to the Supreme Court in Washington.
Anti-abortion activists Lauren Handy, front, with, from left, Terrisa Bukovinac,  Jonathan Darnell and Randall Terry, speaks during an April 5, 2022, news conference in Washington.
* Manuel Balce Ceneta, Associated Press
######
# Justice Department curtails prosecutions for blocking reproductive health care facilities
* ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and CHRISTINE FERNANDO
  Associated Press
* Jan 24, 2025
* 2 hrs ago
* Scripps News
President Trump announced pardons for anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading clinics, asserting their prosecutions were unjust. (Scripps News)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's new Justice Department leadership issued an order Friday to curtail prosecutions against people accused of blocking reproductive rights facilities, calling the cases an example of the "weaponization" of law enforcement.
Justice Department chief of staff Chad Mizelle said in a memo that prosecutions and civil actions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, will now be permitted only in "extraordinary circumstances" or in cases presenting "significant aggravating factors."
Ben Curtis, Associated Press
Mizelle also ordered the immediate dismissal of three civil FACE Act cases related to 2021 blockades of clinics in ,  and . One man was accused of obtaining "illegal access to a secure patient space at a Planned Parenthood facility in Philadelphia without staff permission or knowledge" and barricading himself in a restroom, according to court papers.
"President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise of ending the weaponization of the federal government and has recently directed all federal departments and agencies to identify and correct the past weaponization of law enforcement," Mizelle wrote in the memo obtained by The Associated Press.
"To many Americans, prosecutions and civil actions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act ('FACE Act') have been the prototypical example of this weaponization. And with good reason," he wrote.
In the first week of Trump’s presidency, anti-abortion advocates ramped up calls for Trump to pardon protesters charged with violating the , which is designed to protect abortion clinics from obstruction and threats.
The 1994 law was passed during a time where clinic protests and blockades were on the rise, as was , such as the murder of  in 1993.
## During March of Life, Trump vows to support anti-abortion protesters
Friday's announcement came hours after Trump vowed to support tens of thousands of anti-abortion protesters at the March for Life, declaring in a prerecorded address that "We will again stand proudly for families and for life."
Vice President JD Vance, who spoke to the crowd in person, celebrated pardons for FACE Act defendants and called Trump "the most pro-life American president of our lifetimes."
Abortion was largely absent from the stack of dozens of  in Trump’s first days of office. But he already made quieter moves on abortion, including using wording related to  in an  rolling back protections for transgender people.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., celebrated these moves as evidence “this new White House is already showing its resolve.”
“It is a new golden age for America,” Johnson told the crowd.
### 
* LI SWENSON and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
Manuel Balce Ceneta, Associated Press
## Anti-abortion activists pardoned this week
A day earlier, Trump pardoned several anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances in violation of the FACE Act, which is designed to protect abortion clinics from obstruction and threats.
"They should not have been prosecuted," he said as he signed pardons for "peaceful pro-life protesters.”
Those pardoned were involved in the  and blockade of a Washington clinic.
Lauren Handy was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for leading the blockade by directing blockaders to link themselves together with locks and chains to block the clinic’s doors. A nurse sprained her ankle when one person pushed her while entering the clinic, and a woman was accosted by another blockader while having labor pains, prosecutors said. Police found five fetuses in Handy’s home after she was indicted.
Trump pardoned Handy and her nine co-defendants: Jonathan Darnel of Virginia; Jay Smith, John Hinshaw and William Goodman, all of New York; Joan Bell of New Jersey; Paulette Harlow and Jean Marshall, both of Massachusetts; Heather Idoni of Michigan; and Herb Geraghty of Pennsylvania.
The city of Oakland opened the nation’s largest Planned Parenthood facility as California sees a marked increase in out-of-state patients.
Straight Arrow News
Abortion rights advocates slammed Trump’s pardons as evidence of his opposition to abortion access, despite his  on the issue as he attempted to  on the campaign trail between anti-abortion allies and the  who support abortion rights.
Mizelle wrote that "more than 100 crisis pregnancy centers, pro-life organizations, and churches were attacked in the immediate aftermath" of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that  and its nationwide abortion protections. Yet, nearly all of the prosecutions under the FACE Act were against anti-abortion protesters, he wrote.
### A look at 50 years of Supreme Court abortion decisions
### 1973
Updated
11 hrs ago
The court legalizes abortion nationwide in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
***In photo:** Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe in the 1973 court case, left, and her attorney Gloria Allred hold hands as they leave the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC., Wednesday, April 26, 1989.*
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File
### 1976
The court strikes down a Missouri law requiring a married woman to get her husband's consent for an abortion.
AP
### 1986
The court strikes down portions of a Pennsylvania law it said attempted to intimidate women into continuing pregnancies by, among other things, requiring them to be told the risks associated with abortion.
AP Photo/Tom Reed
### 1989
The court declines to overrule Roe but allows more state regulation of abortion.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
### 1992
The court reaffirms its decision in Roe and says states can't ban abortion before viability, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb, around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
AP Photo/Doug Mills
### 2000
The court strikes down a Nebraska law that barred an abortion procedure used during the second trimester of pregnancy. The law didn't have an exception to the ban for the health of the pregnant woman.
AP Photo/Dave Weaver
### 2007
In a decision weakening Roe, the court upholds the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress, which is similar to Nebraska's law.
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File
### 2016
In its strongest defense of abortion rights in 25 years, the court strikes down Texas rules forcing clinics to meet hospital-like standards and doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
AP Photo/Eric Gay
### 2020
A more conservative court strikes down a Louisiana law nearly identical to the Texas one it struck down in 2016.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
### 2021
The court declines to take emergency action and allows a Texas law banning abortion beginning at around six weeks to take effect.
AP Photo/Stephen Spillman, File
### 2022
The court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years.
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First lady Melania Trump looks on as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Washington.
* Evan Vucci, Associated Press
Franklin Graham speaks along side President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, as they meet with homeowners affected by Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, N.C., Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.
* Mark Schiefelbein, Associated Press
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump meet with homeowners affected by Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, N.C., Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.
President Donald Trump, along side first lady Melania Trump, speaks as he meets with homeowners affected by Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, N.C., Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.
President Donald Trump listens as resident Kim West speaks, as Trump meets with homeowners affected by Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, N.C., Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.
# Trump proposes 'getting rid of FEMA' while visiting North Carolina
* By WILL WEISSERT, CHRIS MEGERIAN and MAKIYA SEMINERA
* 3 hrs ago
SWANNANOA, N.C. — President Donald Trump said he was considering "getting rid of" the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a trip to disaster zones Friday, offering the latest sign of how he is weighing sweeping changes to the nation's central organization for responding to disasters.
Instead of having federal financial assistance flow through FEMA, the Republican president said Washington could provide money directly to the states. He made the comments while visiting North Carolina, which is still recovering months after Hurricane Helene, on the first trip of his second term.
"FEMA has been a very big disappointment," the Republican president said. "It's very bureaucratic. And it's very slow."
Evan Vucci, Associated Press
Trump said Michael Whatley, a North Carolina native and chair of the Republican National Committee, would help coordinate recovery efforts in the state, where frustrations over the federal response have lingered. Although Whatley does not hold an official government position, Trump said he would be "very much in charge."
While the president emphasized his desire to help North Carolina, a battleground state that's voted for him in all of his presidential campaigns, he was much less generous toward California, where he plans to visit wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles later in the day.
Trump reiterated that he wants to extract concessions from the Democratic-led state in return for disaster assistance, including changes to water policies and requirements that voters need to show identification when casting ballots.
Mark Schiefelbein, Associated Press
Beyond Trump's criticism of FEMA, he's suggested limiting the federal government's role in responding to disasters, echoing comments from conservative allies who have proposed reducing funding and responsibility.
"I'd like to see the states take care of disasters," he said after landing in the Asheville area. "Let the state take care of the tornadoes and the hurricanes and all of the other things that happen."
Trump, who was accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, said that would be quicker and cheaper than sending in FEMA.
"FEMA just hasn't done the job," the president said. "We're looking at the whole concept of FEMA."
The agency helps respond to disasters when local leaders request a presidential emergency declaration, a signal that the damage is beyond the state's ability to handle on its own. FEMA can reimburse governments for recovery efforts such as debris removal, and it gives stopgap financial assistance to individual residents.
Trump has criticized former President Joe Biden for his administration's response to Helene in North Carolina. As he left the White House on Friday morning, he told reporters that "it's been a horrible thing the way that's been allowed to fester" since the storm hit in September, and "we're going to get it fixed up."
After a briefing on recovery efforts, Trump traveled to a small town outside Asheville to meet with residents who have been helped by Samaritan's Purse, a humanitarian organization headed by evangelical leader Franklin Graham. The residents told him about wading through waist-deep water to escape from their homes while fearing for their lives. Some have battled with insurance companies to get their losses covered.
"We've come to North Carolina with a simple message," Trump said. "You are not forgotten any longer. You were treated very badly by the previous administration."
"This is our president," one woman told him. "We appreciate you so much"
FEMA has distributed $319 million in financial assistance to residents, but that hasn't alleviated the feeling of abandonment among residents who are struggling to rebuild their lives.
Laurie Carpenter, a 62-year-old retiree in Newland, North Carolina, said there's still debris and trash strewn around her part of the state. She was looking forward to Trump's visit because she's been disappointed by the federal response.
"If anybody's going to do something about it, I think he will," Carpenter said.
Sarah Wells Rolland, 65, whose Asheville pottery studio was destroyed by flooding, is less enthusiastic. Her town leans Democratic, and she's worried that Trump won't prioritize its rebuilding.
"I'm not overly optimistic that the Trump administration is going to do anything long-term," she said.
Once in California, Trump plans to tour the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where rows of homes burned to the ground. He's expected to receive a briefing on the fires, which are ongoing, with thousands of people under evacuation orders.
Trump has showered California leaders with disdain for water policies that he falsely claimed worsened the recent blazes. He said he would "take a look at a fire that could have been put out if they let the water flow, but they didn't let the water flow."
Members of Congress will be at the briefing, and the meeting could prove contentious. Trump has suggested using federal disaster assistance as a bargaining chip during unrelated legislative negotiations over government borrowing, or as leverage to persuade California to change its water policies.
"Playing politics with people's livelihoods is unacceptable and a slap in the face to the Southern California wildfire victims and to our brave first responders," said Rep. Young Kim, a Republican from Orange County, south of Los Angeles, in a recent statement.
Trump has been focused on California water policies, specifically fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state.
"I don't think we should give California anything until they let the water run down," Trump said Wednesday in an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity.
Michael Coen, who served as chief of staff at FEMA during the Biden administration, said Trump was "misinformed" about an agency that provides critical help to states when they are overwhelmed by catastrophe.
In addition, Coen criticized the idea of attaching strings to assistance.
"You're going to pick winners and losers on which communities are going to be supported by the federal government," he said. "I think the American people expect the federal government will be there for them on their worst day, no matter where they live."
* BYRON TAU
The last time Trump was president, he visited numerous disaster zones, including the aftermath of hurricanes and tornadoes. He sometimes sparked criticism, like when he tossed paper towels to survivors of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Trump tapped Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL with limited experience managing natural disasters, as FEMA's acting director.
Before leaving office, Biden vowed that the federal government would cover all the costs of responding to the wildfires around Los Angeles, which could end up being the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. However, that promise won't be kept unless Congress comes up with more funding.
Friday's trip could prompt some uncomfortable conversations about climate change, which Trump has played down and denied. Both Helene and the Los Angeles wildfires were exacerbated by global warming.
In Helene's case, a study by international climate scientists at World Weather Attribution found that climate change boosted the storm's rainfall by 10%. In California, the state suffered a record dry fall and winter — its traditional wet season — which made the area around Los Angeles more vulnerable to blazes.
"This is just breaking our comfort zone of what is supposed to be normal," said University of Oregon researcher Amanda Stasiewicz.
After visiting North Carolina and California, Trump plans to hold a rally Saturday in Las Vegas.
Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Seth Borenstein contributed to this report.