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To: Rules
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026
By: Senator(s) Chism
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 27
A RESOLUTION CALLING UPON THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO PASS 1
HOUSE BILL H.R. 589 AND SENATE BILL S. 223 REPEALING THE "FACE" 2
ACT AND COMMENDING PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR ISSUING, ON JANUARY 23, 3
2025, PRESIDENTIAL PARDONS TO 23 PRO-LIFE AMERICANS UNJUSTLY 4
CONVICTED THEREUNDER. 5
WHEREAS, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) 6
Act, 18 USC § 248, was enacted by the United States Congress and 7
signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994 to prohibit 8
individuals from interfering with access to so-called 9
"reproductive health services," which include both abortion 10
facilities and pregnancy resource centers; and 11
WHEREAS, first-time FACE Act offenders face a penalty of up 12
to 12 months in jail and a $15,000 fine, and repeat offenders can 13
receive up to three years of jail time and $25,000 in fines; and 14
WHEREAS, according to World magazine, since a draft Supreme 15
Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked in the Dobbs v. 16
Jackson Women's Health Center case in early May 2022, "The DOJ 17
began pairing standard FACE Act indictments with charges of 18
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'conspiracy against rights,'" which carries penalties of up to a 19
"10-year prison sentence and its own fines"; and 20
WHEREAS, according to a report updated November 12, 2024, by 21
Catholic Vote, since the Dobbs' leak at least 95 pregnancy 22
resource centers and pro-life groups have been attacked and 23
vandalized; and 24
WHEREAS, according to the Family Research Council, in the 25
year following that leak, at least 38 churches across the country 26
have been firebombed, smashed, ransacked or vandalized with 27
pro-abortion graffiti and threatening messages, and there were at 28
least 23 other incidents in which pro-abortion protesters were 29
arrested or pro-life individuals were physically attacked; and 30
WHEREAS, according to an October 20, 2022, Fox News Digital 31
report, although radical left wing pro-abortion group Jane's 32
Revenge had claimed credit for more than a dozen attacks on 33
churches or pregnancy resource centers, "not a single member of 34
the underground group has been arrested"; and 35
WHEREAS, according to a May 12, 2022, report by the Wisconsin 36
State Journal, Jane's Revenge proclaimed it was at "war" with 37
pro-life groups, demanded "the disbanding of all anti-choice 38
establishments" and said the first attack was "only a warning"; 39
and 40
WHEREAS, despite the numerous serious attacks and threats 41
upon the pro-life community, according to Catholic Vote's data 42
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updated November 11, 2024, there have been only 5 reported arrests 43
in connection with the attacks on the pro-life community; and 44
WHEREAS, despite the numerous serious attacks and threats 45
against the pro-life community, according to an October 11, 2024, 46
article revised November 11, 2024, by the Alliance Defending 47
Freedom, "After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 48
June 2022, the Biden administration began a campaign to promote 49
abortion nationwide" and the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) 50
"brought at least 26 charges against pro-life individuals under 51
the FACE Act in 2022," but brought zero prosecutions against 52
"abortion activists who obstructed or vandalized pro-life 53
pregnancy centers in the wake of the Dobbs' decision that year"; 54
and 55
WHEREAS, according to the aforementioned Alliance Defending 56
Freedom article, in October 2021, devout Christian Mark Houck was 57
praying with his son outside a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 58
abortion clinic when a Planned Parenthood escort repeatedly "got 59
in the face of Houck and his son" and made vulgar comments, 60
leading Houck to push the Planned Parenthood escort to get him 61
away from his son; and 62
WHEREAS, the aforementioned Alliance Defending Freedom 63
article further stated that state and local authorities brought no 64
charges against Houck, but the Biden Department of Justice did so 65
and, despite Houck's offer to turn himself in, "The FBI sent 66
'twenty heavily armed federal agents' to Houck's house in the 67
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early morning hours, pointed at least five guns at him, his wife, 68
and his children, and then arrested him," yet it took a federal 69
jury less than three hours to find Houck not guilty of the charges 70
brought against him; and 71
WHEREAS, in another example of the Biden Administration's 72
persecution of the pro-life community, according to his written 73
testimony submitted December 18, 2024, to a subcommittee of the 74
United States House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee, and 75
further as reported by the National Catholic Register, father of 76
11 and small business owner, Paul Vaughn, was arrested in the 77
early morning hours at his home at gunpoint by an FBI swat team, 78
to the horror of his wife and seven of his children who were home, 79
all for merely praying outside an abortion clinic, after which 80
Vaughn was subjected to a lengthy prosecution and federal trial 81
and sentenced to three years of supervised release, even though 82
the lead negotiator for the local police department, who Vaughn 83
interacted with on the day of the alleged "crime," testified on 84
his behalf at the trial and video evidence showed Vaughn had not 85
blocked any facility entrances; and 86
WHEREAS, by his own public account, as broadcast by the 87
American Family Association (AFA), emergency room physician, 88
pastor, and father of 13, Dr. Coleman Boyd was put under felony 89
indictment under the FACE Act, paired with felony conspiracy 90
charges, forced to give up his firearms and placed under travel 91
restrictions blocking international mission work, as if he were a 92
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terrorist, and, according to an article in Zenit magazine, 93
"sentenced to six months of house arrest, five years of probation, 94
and a $110,000 fine," then lost his job as a result of his 95
sentencing; and 96
WHEREAS, according to an article in The Daily Signal, 97
89-year-old concentration camp survivor Eva Edl faced over a 98
decade in prison and received three years of probation for her 99
nonviolent protest of the same destruction of human life she saw 100
in her youth at a communist death camp; and 101
WHEREAS, according to an article by the National Catholic 102
Register, in yet another example of the Biden administration's 103
abuse of power using the FACE Act, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, a 104
33-year-old pro-life activist, was sentenced to three-and-a-half 105
years in prison after her protest at an abortion facility, with 106
the judge mercilessly taking her away from her daughter, a 107
toddler, for that child's formative years; and 108
WHEREAS, President Trump has already pardoned or granted 109
clemency to the aforementioned 23 pro-life activists, thereby 110
signaling his opposition to the FACE Act's many abuses; and 111
WHEREAS, this long train of abuses under the FACE Act has 112
demonstrated that the FACE Act has been weaponized and made a tool 113
of injustice and violation of law-abiding Americans' 114
constitutional rights, and has further demonstrated that the FACE 115
Act has been so irrevocably tainted by the Biden Administration's 116
politicized prosecutions and is so unavoidably subject to 117
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prosecutorial abuse that United States Senator Mike Lee and 118
Representative Chip Roy have introduced H.R. 589 and S. 223 to 119
repeal the FACE Act, in support of which Senator Lee stated that 120
"the Biden DOJ has weaponized this constitutionally suspect law 121
against pro-life sidewalk counselors while failing to protect 122
pregnancy centers and churches from violent attacks,"; and 123
WHEREAS, despite the FBI's and DOJ's blatant abuses of the 124
FACE Act and the scandalously historic number of pardons and 125
clemencies the Biden administration has issued, including of his 126
own disgraced son, admitted felon Hunter Biden, whom he falsely 127
promised he would never pardon, President Biden provided no relief 128
to the pro-life Americans unjustly persecuted by his 129
administration for exercising their rights to free speech and 130
religious liberty in opposition to abortion: 131
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF 132
MISSISSIPPI, that we call upon the United States Congress to 133
forthwith pass, and President Donald J. Trump to speedily sign, 134
bills H.R. 589 and S. 223 repealing the FACE Act. 135
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we call upon Mississippi Senator 136
Cindy Hyde-Smith and Mississippi Representatives Trent Kelly, 137
Bennie Thompson, Michael Guest, and Mike Ezell to join Mississippi 138
Senator Roger Wicker in cosponsoring the bills to repeal the FACE 139
Act in their respective chambers. 140
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we commend President Donald J. 141
Trump for pardoning or granting clemency to 23 Americans unjustly 142
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ST: Urge Congress to enact the Freedom of
Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE).
convicted under the FACE Act for exercising their constitutional 143
rights to protest at abortion clinics. 144
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be furnished to 145
President Donald J. Trump; Majority Leader John Thune of the U.S. 146
Senate and Mississippi's U.S. Senators; Speaker of the House Mike 147
Johnson and Mississippi's members of Congress; the U.S. Attorney 148
General's Office; and made available to the Capitol Press Corps. 149