Letter of Support for the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025 (H.R. 589)

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July 23, 2025

The Honorable Chip Roy
103 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative Roy:

On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committees on Pro-Life Activities and Religious Liberty, we write in support of the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025 (H.R. 589).

Abortion is a terrible violence against innocent and vulnerable children that must be prevented in law and in society. To answer such violence with more violence cannot bear fruit nor build a culture of life. “There is no good reason to resort to violence to resolve political issues.”[1] As Americans, we have the right to public self-expression, including praying peacefully, advocating, and compassionately reaching out to mothers seeking abortion with life-affirming alternatives.

Our brother bishops opposed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act when it was passed in 1994. They knew it would lead to discriminatory prosecutions against those peacefully protesting to uphold life, with all the accompanying personal impacts on them and their families. That is precisely what appears to have occurred. In recent years, the Department of Justice took an aggressive approach to FACE Act enforcement against pro-life Americans at a time when violence against life-saving pregnancy help centers and churches dramatically increased.[2] Following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, a wave of arson and vandalism to these facilities went largely unchallenged by the federal government, with only two such cases brought under the FACE Act. It is time to repeal the severely problematic FACE Act.

We reiterate our rejection of violence in any form. Existing laws that help protect people and property from harm every day, especially at the state and local levels, can be employed to adequately deter and respond to instances of violence or vandalism, whether against those who are pro-life or those who are not. All laws should be implemented fairly in just service of the common good and respecting the dignity of all human life.

Thank you for introducing H.R. 589. We urge your colleagues to advance this legislation.

Sincerely,

Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades
Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend                                     
Chairman, Committee for Religious Liberty
 

Most Reverend Daniel E. Thomas
Bishop of Toledo
Chairman, Committee on Pro-Life Activities

[1] Archbishop Borys Gudziak, “Pursue What Leads to Peace” (Rom. 14:19): A Christian Response to Rising Threats of Political and Ideological Violence,” 18 June 2024: www.usccb.org/resources/2024.06.18%20Political%20Violence%20Statement.pdf. 

[2] Jonah McKeown, “TRACKER: Pro-abortion attacks in the U.S. continue,” Catholic News Agency, 21 July 2022: www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251553/map-vandalism-attacks-continue-at-pro-life-centers-across-us.