(LifeSiteNews) — On Sunday, January 18th, 2026, a group of anti-ICE protestors entered Cities Church in St. Paul, MN and disrupted the service, chanting anti-ICE slogans and berating congregants for tolerating the arrest of illegal immigrants in the Twin Cities. Monday, conservative media was aflame with outrage, and now there is talk that President Trump’s DOJ may charge the protestors with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE).
That got my attention–and not in a good way. I’m one of only a few dozen people in America who has ever been convicted of FACE. In 2022, in retaliation for a peaceful anti-abortion rescue I was accused of helping orchestrate, President Joe Biden’s DOJ arrested me at gunpoint and charged me with FACE and Conspiracy to Deny Rights (carrying a possible eleven year sentence). In 2023, along with nine others, I was tried and immediately sent to federal prison. I would have served up to thirty-four months had President Trump not pardoned all of us exactly one year ago. This is what these protesters are looking at, should Trump decide to evoke FACE.
You might think I’d be happy to see him do that. But you’d be wrong.
The FACE Act is a weird, incredibly unjust law. It makes it a federal crime to injure, intimidate or interfere with anyone trying to obtain “reproductive health services” (i.e. abortion) or anyone attending a “place of religious worship,” and imposes outrageous sentences on violators. It was created by pro-abortion Democrats to crush the rescue movement of the 1980s and early 1990s, when thousands of pro-life people were peacefully blockading the doors of abortion clinics and saving countless lives. The church provision, I believe, was added to placate conservatives in Congress, which it did. Thirty-four Republican traitors, including Senators Mitch McConnell and Arlen Specter, joined Democrats to pass FACE by sizeable majorities in both houses. It was perhaps the biggest betrayal of human life ever perpetrated by American politicians.
Ever since I got involved in anti-abortion rescue I’ve supported the repeal of FACE. This is because I sincerely believe that rescue, besides being one of the most authentic ways possible to love individual preborn children, is also a vital tool to create social tension and end child-killing as fast as possible. The original rescue movement was the closest we ever came to actually abolishing abortion, and if we ever hope to reach that goal, rescue must revive. But FACE, especially coupled with the conspiracy statutes that pro-abortion prosecutors love to slam rescuers with, makes rescue almost impossible for all but the most steel-willed among us.
That’s why, before I was incarcerated, I spoke out against mainstream pro-life groups who were merely calling for FACE to be enforced equally against the pro-abortion vandals who were then desecrating and damaging pregnancy resource centers. While in prison, I spent weeks writing articles about how important it was that we get rid of FACE, not just use it to bash our enemies.
After he pardoned us, President Trump promised to only enforce the FACE Act in “extraordinary circumstances,” and we were hopeful that, before he was out of office, Republicans in Congress would have repealed that diabolical law. But instead the bill to repeal FACE was tabled in committee. Then pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside a NYC synagogue, and now we have the Minnesota church incident. Once again people on “my side” are salivating over the possibility of using FACE to punish those we don’t like.
Their anger, perhaps, is justified. Personally, my opinions about Trump’s deportation policy are not very strong. But I think I know the type of people who invaded Cities Church, and I despise them. It was violent left-wing villains like those who on multiple occasions assaulted my friends and me during anti-abortion outreach, stole and destroyed our equipment, screamed in our faces, and attempted to damage our eardrums with their police whistles. If they weren’t protesting inside a church, they would probably be escorting women into Planned Parenthood, dancing naked in front of Christian evangelists at a Pride Parade, or holding sheets in front of our abortion victim images while singing about how hungry the bloody photo of a murdered child makes them feel. They are truly the worst of the worst.
But the desire for revenge must not be allowed to cloud our judgement. If FACE remains in effect, these people lose the freedom to frighten Christians on Sunday morning. We lose the ability to save lives.
Besides all this, I’m just not a fan of overzealous prosecution. Offensive as these church protesters may have behaved, so far as I know they did not physically hurt anyone. What they did that day was trespassing and probably qualifies as harassment. Maybe even assault. We already have laws against that, and those laws can be enforced. But it simply isn’t just to send them to prison for multiple years. The punishment should fit the crime. Having been a victim of exaggerated, ideologically motivated prosecution, I have a hard time calling for it to be used against others. Sure, part of me would delight in seeing “their side” get a dose of their own medicine. But these are people we’re talking about, not punching bags.
Some might suggest that if FACE is used against Democrat activists, there will be bipartisan support for repealing it as soon as possible. Yet this presumes that Democratic power brokers care more about harassing churches than protecting the abortion industry. I seriously doubt that. They know where their bread is buttered. Our hope of revoking FACE lies with the Republicans, and now I fear they will become FACE’s biggest supporters.
The real problem, as always, is that most conservatives, and indeed most pro-lifers, are more worried about this potential threat to their safe spaces than the very real mass slaughter of preborn children. Or at least they see no value in rescue. It makes me want to both cry and scream. Yes, what happened Sunday was definitely unnerving. But Christians overseas often face far greater persecution; it is a normal part of their Christian experience. We are incredibly privileged here, and it has made us soft. To hamstring the fight against child killing just so you can live more securely is not pro-life at all.
Jonathan Darnel is an anti-abortion rescuer who served 16 months in federal prison for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE). To help repeal FACE, visit SmashTheFACE.life.
