WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Justice Department fired at least four prosecutors who were involved in prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act during the Biden administration, a government official familiar with the firings said. Sanjay Patel, a longtime federal prosecutor in the Civil Rights Division's criminal section, was among those terminated, the official said.

A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement that the department had terminated personnel who misused the FACE Act. The Trump administration alleged, without citing evidence, that the Civil Rights Division under former Attorney General Merrick Garland used the law to intentionally target conservative Christians who were morally opposed to abortion.

The terminations occurred at about the same time that a report on the FACE Act and the Biden-era Justice Department was being finalized. The department's weaponization working group, which was established in the first days of Attorney General Pam Bondi's tenure, is drafting the report. Excerpts of a draft version stated that fewer FACE Act cases targeted abortion rights activists than conservative anti-abortion Christians.

Congress passed the FACE Act in 1994 to address concerns about threats and intimidation against women at reproductive health clinics. Under the law, nonviolent and first-time offenses are classified as misdemeanors, while repeat offenses or violations that result in bodily injury or death are classified as felonies.

The Justice Department also pursued criminal charges against abortion rights activists accused of trying to scare volunteers and workers at a crisis pregnancy clinic that counseled on alternatives to abortion. The department allowed the remaining FACE Act cases involving abortion rights activists to proceed without interference.

At the same time, the department dismissed several other FACE Act cases and ordered prosecutors to pause future investigations under the law. Early in his second term, President Donald Trump pardoned many FACE Act defendants convicted during the Biden administration. A Florida-based defendant in a FACE Act case received a 120-day prison term in March 2025.

Many former federal prosecutors who handled FACE Act cases have since left the Justice Department. The firings are separate from those departures, as the terminated prosecutors were removed rather than having left voluntarily.