In the early morning hours, before the sun came up on Saturday Aug. 8, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. But long before the vote, Blanche’s comments inside and outside of the confirmation process signaled an escalation of President Donald Trump’s anti-abortion agenda. In a now-deleted audio recording with the White House Faith Office, Blanche outlined a plan to utilize multiple agencies, including his Department of Justice and the Food and Drug Administration, to end abortion access in all 50 states.
Blanche illustrated how these departments—which should work independently of the White House in service to our collective health and safety—are blurring lines in service to an agenda targeting abortion providers and patients. The National Abortion Federation, which sets clinical standards for abortion care and provides security and safety support for clinics nationwide, knows firsthand the grave dangers when checks and balances disappear within the federal government. Law enforcement is the only mechanism of accountability our current system provides for people who engage in violence and disruption at abortion clinics.
While these activities are illegal under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinical Entrances (FACE) Act, the law is only as protective as the person in charge of enforcing it. Not only did Trump pardon violators of the FACE Act, the DOJ has also paid them with tax dollars as a backwards form of restitution. Just last month, Paul Vaughn received a Trump pardon and $1 million from the DOJ after staging a blockade at a NAF member clinic in Tennessee.
NAF is actively suing the DOJ to stop more payouts of this kind. But the Trump-Blanche duo has already sent a message with serious consequences. Since Trump took office, NAF’s most recent Violence and Disruption report showed a 113% increase in threats of death and harm.
Clinic blockades increased from one to six. While we know laws like the FACE Act are a limited means to protect people, not only is the federal government failing to meet these low bars, it's abusing the law to incentivize violence. Blanche’s confirmation is part of a larger pattern of involving law enforcement in pregnancy, including abortion care.
That should scare everyone no matter what you believe. Blanche’s commitment to work “hand in hand with the FDA” to end abortion access adds to the alarm bells. As clinical experts, we rely on peer-reviewed studies, unbiased research, and patient experience to inform NAF’s clinical guidelines for abortion care.
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