(December 18, 2024 – Washington, D.C.) Peaceful pro-life advocate Paul Vaughn described the harrowing morning SWAT-style FBI raid on his home in front of his wife and 11 children during his testimony before a congressional subcommittee on Wednesday, December 18. Vaughn and his attorney, Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Steve Crampton, appeared before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government regarding the Biden-Harris Department of Justice’s weaponization of the FACE Act.

Chaired by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the subcommittee hearing, “Revisiting the Implications of the FACE Act: Part II,” heard Vaughn and Crampton’s testimony on how the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act has been used to arrest peaceful pro-life advocates, like Vaughn, at gunpoint in their homes. In their questioning, lawmakers probed the legal basis for the FACE Act, its unequal enforcement by the Biden-Harris DOJ and the weaponization of the law against pro-life advocates who have been prosecuted under severe charges that carry sentences of more than a decade in prison.

Vaughn was charged under the FACE Act and the “Conspiracy Against Rights” federal statute for peacefully praying, singing hymns, witnessing for life and speaking to law enforcement during a March 2021 pro-life gathering at a now-defunct abortion facility in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, and faced more than 10 years in federal prison. “I was not arrested the day of the event. I broke no laws, federal or local. In fact, we were expecting our 11th child, and I promised my wife I would stay out of any trouble,” Vaughn noted in his written testimony.

In his testimony, Crampton provided an analysis of the legal weaknesses of the FACE Act, noting that the law became unconstitutional after Roe v. Wade was overturned and should be reexamined by Congress. Crampton highlighted how the FACE Act “was from its inception always about abortion,” despite ostensibly protecting pro-life pregnancy centers and houses of worship in its text, but not as evidenced through its unequal enforcement. He asserted that the FACE Act has been weaponized to target peaceful pro-life advocates who engage in quintessential First Amendment-protected expression. Crampton explained that during the Biden-Harris administration, federal prosecutors have used FACE Act charges in combination with “Ku Klux Klan Act” charges to multiply the potential prison time for pro-lifers to over 10 years of federal incarceration.

Vaughn described the politically motivated nature of the prosecutions brought against peaceful pro-lifers by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and Reproductive Rights Task Force, including his own trial. “The process is the punishment,” he added. Vaughn concluded his testimony by highlighting the experiences of other pro-lifers prosecuted by the Reproductive Rights Task Force who currently face incarceration, such as Lauren Handy and Cal Zastrow, or home arrest, like himself and Paulette Harlow.

View photos from the hearing available for media use, here.

Read the Written Testimony of Stephen Crampton, Senior Counsel, Thomas More Society, before the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government of the Committee on the Judiciary, delivered December 18, 2024, here.

Read the Written Testimony of Paul Vaughn, pro-life advocate and Thomas More Society client, before the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government of the Committee on the Judiciary, delivered December 18, 2024, here.

View recorded livestreamed video of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government hearing, “Revisiting the Implications of the FACE Act: Part II,” here.

Read more about Thomas More Society’s defense of Paul Vaughn in United States v. Gallagher, et al., here.