Abortion Providers Feel Like 'Sitting Ducks' After Trump Rolls Back Clinic Protections

The president has limited enforcement of the FACE Act — created to safeguard abortion providers and patients — and pardoned 23 people who were convicted of the federal charge.

Julie Burkhart’s career in abortion care started when she was a college student working at a clinic in Wichita, Kansas, during the infamous Summer of Mercy in 1991. Thousands of protesters swarmed the city to rally against abortion clinics — lying on sidewalks to block clinic entrances, throwing their bodies in front of patients’ cars and screaming threats at anyone entering the three targeted clinics. Since then, she has lived through the assassination of her former boss and mentor, Dr. George Tiller, death threats on her own life, stalkers and protesters coming to her home and, most recently, the firebombing of her Wyoming abortion clinic.

Still, this moment stands out among the rest, she told HuffPost.

Last month, President Donald Trump limited enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act — a federal law created to safeguard abortion clinics, patients and providers. He dismissed a handful of current ongoing FACE investigations and instructed prosecutors to apply the law only in “extraordinary circumstances” such as instances of death, extreme bodily harm or significant property damage.

Trump also pardoned 23 people for FACE convictions that ranged from harassing pregnant patients to breaking into clinics and stealing fetal tissue. Several of those pardoned, some of whom were serving prison time, have already said they plan to return to targeting and invading abortion clinics.

“I got to see up close what not having the FACE Act was like, all of the chaos and disruption,” Burkhart said, referring to the Summer of Mercy, which spurred President Bill Clinton to sign the FACE Act into law three years later. “It’s easy to forget history and why we have certain things in place.”