US President Donald Trump pardoned anti-abortion activists, including those convicted for blocking a reproductive clinic and intimidating staff members and patients.
The pardons are part of an executive order signed by Trump on Thursday. This is one of many in his first week as president.
Trump called the convictions “ridiculous” but abortion rights activists said that the move was evidence of Trump’s opposition to abortion access.
The order came just a day before the anti-abortion demonstrators were to arrive in Washington DC for the annual March for Life. President Obama was to speak via videolink.
Trump will be the first president to attend the rally personally in 2020. George W Bush, Ronald Reagan, and others have spoken remotely.
This time, Vice President J D Vance is in attendance.
Since 1974, the rally has been held every year in the US capital. This was the year that the Supreme Court legalized abortion in Roe v Wade.
The right to abortion has been a major issue in the recent presidential elections, and the ruling was overturned by the court in 2022.
Trump said of the activists: “They should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people… This is a great honor to sign this. They’ll be very happy.”
According to US media, Lauren Handy is one of those pardoned. She leads the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising.
The group was found guilty of plotting to storm and block an abortion clinic in Washington, DC, in 2020. This was done to intimidate staff and patients. The members forced their way inside the Surgi-Clinic and injured a nurse. They spent several hours there.
Handy was found guilty and sentenced to prison in May 2024.
Her supporters have applauded the pardons and said that the convictions had been political.
Marjorie Dannenfelser is the president of Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America. She said that Joe Biden’s Department of Justice targeted protesters and thanked Trump for “immediately fulfilling his promise” to pardon them.
Abortion rights activists claimed that the pardons confirm their belief that Trump is anti-abortion. This is despite his declaration during his presidential election that individual states decide whether or not to allow this practice.
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