About FACE

You don’t have to go to China to discover forced abortion. It exists right here in America, and has for many years. But now, thanks to a recent decision in the federal courts, there may now be a way to stop these abuses.

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), which makes it a felony to interfere with a woman’s ability to obtain reproductive health services, has been found to apply to those who coerce women into abortions, such as boyfriends — or abortionists and their assistants. We have launched an About FACE campaign — a national campaign to protect American women against violations committed in private and state-funded abortion clinics and family planning centers throughout the US.

The Story of Jane Roe II

On March 29, 1997, a young, pregnant woman — we’ll call her Jane Roe, II — entered the Aware Woman Center for Choice in Florida. She was there for an abortion.

She was undressed and put on the operating table. Soon after the procedure began, she felt a pain pierce her vitals. Racked by “extreme, excessive pain in her abdomen,” she begged the abortionist to stop. “Call an ambulance!” she cried, “Take me to the hospital!”

The abortionist, a Dr. William P. Egherman, refused. When Jane tried to get up, Egherman ordered his assistants to hold her down. Four pairs of hands gripped Jane’s arms and legs, rendering her immobile. He continued the abortion.

Real Medical Help, Finally

Jane was eventually taken by ambulance to an emergency room where it was discovered that Egherman had perforated her uterus and lacerated her colon. Follow-up surgery was required to remove her now-dead baby and repair her internal organs.

Fortunately Jane’s story doesn’t end here.

With the help of a pro-life attorney, Chris Sapp, Jane filed suit against Egherrnan and the owners of the abortion clinic. She charged that their actions violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE).

A New Use for FACE

FACE makes it a felony punishable by ten years in prison to intentionally interfere with anyone’s ability to obtain reproductive health services. A product of the Clinton administration, it was originally used only to silence pregnancy counselors and others outside of abortion clinics who urged alternatives to abortions. But Mr. Sapp made the novel argument that FACE should also protect women like Jane Roe from the horror of forced abortion.

In a major setback for the abortion industry, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. “If the defendants restrained Roe for the purpose of preventing her from obtaining any [reproductive health services], then she has adequately pleaded a violation of FACE.”1

This decision by the federal courts has effectively criminalized forced abortion. Coerce a woman into an abortion, sterilization, or other reproductive health services she does not want and you may spend up to 10 years in federal prison,

It Can Happen Here

We think of forced abortions as happening only in countries like China, but they are very much part of the abortion scene in America. Many — perhaps most — of the abortions done today in the United States are violations of federal law. The man who threatens to beat his pregnant girlfriend unless she gets an abortion is violating the FACE act. The college counselor who tells a pregnant 19-year-old student that she “must” get an abortion is violating the FACE act. And abortion clinic personnel who make it impossible for a woman to change her mind after entry are violating the FACE act.

This new legal precedent can also be used to help protect women against the full range of abortion-related abuses, including lack of informed consent and lack of information about the harmful side effects of abortion. Ultimately, it can help protect millions of victims from the horror of abortions performed under physical and psychological duress.

This is why Population Research Institute has launched a national campaign to protect American women against violations committed in private and state-funded abortion clinics and family planning centers throughout the US. We call it About FACE.

What About FACE Will Do

For years, PRI has worked to end coercive practices in US-funded family planning programs abroad, About FACE will help to end such abuses in government-funded clinics at home.

With About FACE, we will educate sidewalk counselors in the new law. We will publish simple how-to manuals telling people how to identify when a felony is being committed at an abortion clinic. (When someone spots an obviously distressed woman being led into an abortion clinic, he can now call in a federal marshal. The marshal will then investigate the abortion clinic on probable cause that a felony is being committed. With a felony, you don’t need a search warrant, only “probable cause.”)

Know Your Rights

With About FACE, we will tell young women whose human rights have been violated how they can seek redress in the courts. We will publish, both in print and electronic formats, a Know Your Rights brochure that will outline the new precedent. Written in simple, non-legalistic language, and available in both Spanish and English, it will encourage young women like lane to step forward. With About FACE, we will educate pro-life, pro-family attorneys. Working with Chris Sapp and the Counselor Corps, we will lay the areas where the Eleventh Circuit’s decision may be applicable, and assist them in their own cases.

With About FACE, we will educate pro-life, pro-family groups in other countries about the need to protect women from abuse by passing legislation banning forced abortion. With About FACE we will turn the FACE act on its head.