The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act is a United States law that was signed by President Bill Clinton in May 1994, which prohibits the following three things: the use of physical force, threat of physical force, or physical obstruction to intentionally injure, intimidate, interfere with or attempt to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person who is obtaining reproductive health services or providing reproductive health services, the use of physical force, threat of physical force, or physical obstruction to intentionally injure, intimidate, interfere with or attempt to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person who is exercising or trying to exercise their First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship, the intentional damage or destruction of a reproductive health care facility or a place of worship.
The following behaviors are not prohibited because they are protected under the First Amendment right to free speech:
Protesting outside of clinics
Distributing literature
Carrying signs
Shouting
Singing hymns
Definitions
Many of the words used in the official text of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act are subject to different interpretations. For this reason the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice provided formal definitions for these terms:
Facility—The term "facility" includes a hospital, clinic, physician's office, or other facility that provides reproductive health services, and includes the building or structure in which the facility is located.
Interfere with—The term "interfere with" means to restrict a person's freedom of movement.
Intimidate—The term "intimidate" means to place a person in reasonable apprehension of bodily harm to him- or herself or to another.
Physical obstruction—The term "physical obstruction" means rendering impassable entrance to or exit from a facility that provides reproductive health services or to or from a place of religious worship, or rendering passage to or from such a facility or place of religious worship unreasonably difficult or hazardous.
Reproductive health services—The term "reproductive health services" means reproductive health services provided in a hospital, clinic, physician's office, or other facility, and includes medical, surgical, counseling or referral services relating to the human reproductive system, including services relating to pregnancy or the termination of a pregnancy.
Rationale for the Act
The Act was passed in direct response to the escalation of violent tactics used by anti-abortion activists as well as escalating protest culminated in the "Spring of Life" at Buffalo Abortion Clinics, on April 1992. Between the years 1978 and 1993, the number of violent crimes committed against reproductive health care providers, reproductive health care facilities and abortion clinics were steadily on the rise. According to statistics gathered by the National Abortion Federation, an organization of abortion providers, since 1977 in the United States and Canada, there have been at least 9 murders, 17 attempted murders, 406 death threats, 179 incidents of assault or battery, and 5 kidnappings committed against abortion providers. In addition, since 1977 in the United States and Canada, property crimes committed against abortion providers have included 41 bombings, 175 arsons, 96 attempted bombings or arsons, 692 bomb threats, 1993 incidents of trespassing, 1400 incidents of vandalism, and 100 attacks with butyric acid. One anti-abortion group known as the Army of God, was especially active in committing these violent crimes. This group alone was responsible for bombing and setting fire to over one hundred clinics before 1994. They also invaded more than three hundred clinics and vandalized more than four hundred In 1993, officials found the Army of God Manual, a tactical guide to arson, chemical attacks, invasions and bombing, buried in the backyard of Shelly Shannon’s home. Shelly Shannon was soon found guilty of the attempted murder of Dr. George Tiller that same year. In addition to committing acts of violence, many anti-abortion activists were known to stalk medical personnel and use their photographs on "Wanted for Murder" posters. This on-going violence reached its peak in March 1993 when Dr. David Gunn, a physician whose medical practice included abortion procedures, was shot and killed by Michael F. Griffin outside of the Pensacola Women's Medical Services clinic located in Pensacola, Florida This increase in violence had become very burdensome to local law enforcement. The Senate decided that such unlawful conduct was interfering with the constitutional right of women to receive reproductive health care services, which has been guaranteed since the Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade in 1973. On April 1992, thousands of "prayer warriors" and pro-life protesters met at the entrances of Buffalo Abortion Clinics for a planned month of picketing and blockades, trying to dissuade women from broking their pregnancies. After seven days of protests, involving the Operation Rescue, almost 341 persons were arrested.
Penalties for violation
The criminal penalties for violating FACE vary according to the severity of the offense and the defendant's prior record of similar violations. Typically, a first time offender is sentenced to at most one year in prison and fined at most $100,000. For a second violation, the violator may be imprisoned for at most three years and fined at most $250,000. These are maximum sentences; lesser penalties are permitted at the judge's discretion. If the offense causes injury to a person, the maximum sentence is 10 years, regardless of whether or not it is a first offense.
Effectiveness of the Act
According to statistics gathered by the National Abortion Federation, incidents of the more disastrous forms of violence have greatly decreased since 1994, the year the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances act was put on the books. The Clinton administration prosecuted 17 defendants for violations of the F.A.C.E. act in 1997 alone and prosecuted an average of about 10 defendants per year since the law was enacted. The George W. Bush administration, however, only prosecuted about two defendants per year for violations of the F.A.C.E. act. According to Cathleen Mahoney, Executive Vice President of the National Abortion Federation and former attorney for the Justice Department, "The amount of activity really did drop a lot after FACE was enacted and it was beginning to be enforced".
Judicial Review
Following passage of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, Massachusetts followed suit by passing an analogous state law, Reproductive Health Care Facilities Act. That state law was challenged in Federal Court and ultimately struck down in McCullen v. Coakley. However, the decision was narrowly tailored so as not to strike down the F.A.C.E Act and other state level laws.
