President Trump pardoned three Tennessee anti-abortion activists convicted for obstructing a health care clinic in violation of federal law on Thursday. Federal Judge Aleta Trauger sentenced Paul Place and Paul Vaughn, both of Centerville, as well as Chester Gallagher of Lebanon, last year for charges related to blockading Carafem Health Center in Mt. Juliet in 2021. Gallagher, a former police officer identified by prosecutors as a central organizer of clinic blockades, was also convicted in 2024 for separate violations related to an anti-abortion blockade outside Detroit.Â
Trump pardoned a total of 23 individuals who were convicted of interfering with health care access under the Freedom to Access Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), a federal protection passed in 1994 amid violence from anti-abortion activists. Place, Vaughn and Gallagher had been indicted in the U.S. District of Middle Tennessee following an FBI investigation. They were convicted under former U.S. Attorney Henry Leventis, with assistance from former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clark. Trauger, who is based in Nashville, oversaw the case and sentenced Vaughn, Gallagher and Place, who received legal aid from pro-life law firm the Thomas More Society.
“Since the news of the pardons, we have heard from abortion providers across the country that they are terrified for the safety of their staff and patients,” says Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, in a press release. “Even with this law in place, anti-abortion activists have threatened to kill providers, have bombed their clinics, and have harassed their patients. Under previous administrations, clinics could count on the Department of Justice to enforce the law regardless of a president’s views on abortion. No more. President Trump has declared that it is him, not Congress, who decides what the law is and who it protects.”
Many conservatives praised the pardons. Anti-abortion critics of the FACE Act accuse the U.S. Justice Department of using the law to criminalize actions protected by free speech. Prosecutors point out that protestors’ actions violate the law when they utilize threats, physical intimidation, violence or other physical obstructions to block clinic access for willing patients, providers or other individuals.
