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President Donald Trump promised to free jailed pro-life activists if elected, according to a report from the Catholic News Agency.
The 45th president commented on the issue during his Saturday speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Washington, D.C.
“Paulette is one of many peaceful pro-lifers who Joe Biden has rounded up, sometimes with SWAT teams, and thrown them in jail,” Trump said.
“Many people are in jail over this. … We’re going to get that taken care of immediately — [on the] first day,” he continued.
Trump referenced Paulette Harlow, 75, a Catholic woman convicted for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Harlow was sentenced to 24 months in prison for her role in blocking access to an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C.
The federal government sentenced 10 defendants in the case, according to a May press release from the Justice Department.
“These 10 defendants have been held accountable for using force, threatening to use force and physically obstructing access to reproductive health care in the District of Columbia,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“The Justice Department will continue to protect both patients seeking reproductive health services and providers of those services. We will hold accountable anyone who seeks to unlawfully obstruct or block access to reproductive health services in our country,” she added.
Trump has criticized the decision in the case. His speech also included an emphasis on creating a federal task force to address anti-Christian bias.
“We will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, in our hospitals, and in our public square,” Trump said.
Last year, Trump pledged to create a task force for political prisoners “unjustly persecuted” under the Biden administration.
“Under Biden, others are being sentenced to 10, 15, and even 20 years in prison for retribution for their political beliefs, while Antifa and other groups burned down cities like Portland, like Minneapolis,” Trump said in a 2023 speech at the Pray Vote Stand Summit in the nation’s capital.
“They went into Seattle — what they did in Seattle was they basically took over a big percentage of the city. They kill people, they loot, they plunder, and they go free,” he continued.