The national network of from entering a Planned Parenthood health clinic in Memphis, Tennessee, although abortion is completely banned in the state. Seventeen anti-abortion protesters were arrested after a three-day event and “pro-life activist training academy” course hosted by Rescue Resurrection.
The group is part of a widespread increase in threats and violence against abortion providers since the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022.
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That year, there was a 538% increase in people obstructing clinic entrances, a 913% increase in stalking of clinic staff and a 133% increase in bomb threats, according to an NAF report. A recent report from Abortion Care Network shows that anti-abortion extremists have intensified their attacks by zeroing in on the few remaining clinics in states where abortion is still legal.
It is often hard to get a conviction under the FACE Act, but providers still see it as an important deterrent to increasing anti-choice violence. Abortion providers and advocates told HuffPost they have seen anti-choice protesters become emboldened since Trump gutted FACE enforcement last year.
“It’s very clear that [the FACE Act] won’t be enforced, so it has emboldened some of the people within our communities to potentially try to break local laws and ordinances because there’s no federal teeth to protect us,” said Melissa Grant, COO of Carafem, a reproductive health organization that has abortion clinics in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Chicago.
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“It’s concerning and it’s real,” she added.
Diane Horvath, an OB-GYN and provider at Partners In Abortion Care, said Trump’s pardon of anti-abortion extremists motivated her clinic to rebuild the entire front desk area and install bulletproof windows. Partners in Abortion Care, located less than an hour outside of D.C., used to speak with their local FBI field office regularly.
“We used to have really excellent contact with the FBI, in our local field office … but we can’t even get someone from the FBI to return phone calls,” Horvath said. “Now we can’t even find someone to report to.”
As anti-abortion violence ramps up — seemingly with Trump’s blessing — there’s a growing divide in the anti-abortion Republican camp. Rescue Resurrection’s decision to protest at the HHS building signals to Trump that the most hardline anti-choice groups are unhappy with the administration’s strategy around the abortion pill.
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A handful of anti-abortion organizations and leaders have called for Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be fired, following a bombshell report from Bloomberg News that the FDA is reportedly slow-walking a safety assessment of mifepristone until after the 2026 midterm elections. The decision to review the abortion pill came after a monthslong pressure campaign from anti-abortion groups, despite the drug’s 25-year safety record.
