Father who was terrorized by the FBI speaks out on Trump’s pro-life pardons

President Donald Trump pardoned 23 pro-life Americans on Thursday, including a Tennessee father of 11 who was violently raided by the FBI for protesting abortion.

‘My wife and children were terrorized’

In March 2021, Paul Vaughn participated in a peaceful protest with 10 others at Carafem Health Center, an abortion facility in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Demonstrators prayed and sang hymns, and some blocked the entrance by sitting in front of it. Vaughn was not among those who blocked the door.

The Department of Justice charged Vaughn and other demonstrators with conspiracy against rights and violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a felony to interfere with abortion. The FBI arrived at his home on the morning of October 5, 2022.

“My house was assaulted, my wife and children were terrorized, and I was kidnapped at gunpoint by four armed men,” Vaughn told the House Judiciary Committee on the Constitution and Limited Government last month. “I had just sent three of my children to the car so I could take them to school when the house began to shake from a loud banging near the front door. I heard men shouting from my front porch, ‘Open up! FBI!’”

He opened his curtains to see three agents with guns trained on the door. The agents did not identify themselves.

“I later learned at the same time three of my children, ages 12, 14, and 18, were being detained in the side yard on the edge of the woods by a fourth armed man,” continued Vaughn. “I was taken without the presentation of a warrant or identification when requested. Make no mistake: this was an armed conflict and I was unarmed. Lethal force was abused to abridge my God-given and constitutionally secured rights.”

‘President Trump kept his promises’

On Thursday, Trump pardoned Vaughn and 22 other Americans targeted by Biden’s DOJ for protesting abortion, saying they “should not have been prosecuted.” The president added that it was a “great honor” to sign the executive order.

“One side is, it’s great,” Vaughn told the Daily Caller. “President Trump kept his promises. He came in and issued the pardons. The other side of the coin is there is still not justice for all those that spent over a year in jail. For those of us who were persecuted, arrested, on house arrest, went through a long ordeal of a federal trial with their families, had the FBI show up and terrorize their kids and their house.”

“We’re still seeking how to best navigate post-pardon legal strategies and things of that nature.”

Trump DOJ limits abuse of the FACE Act

Vaughn, who was sentenced to three years probation, was not the only victim of a violent raid. On an early September morning in 2022, armed FBI agents stormed the home of Mark Houck, a father of seven, who had also been accused of violating the FACE Act by protesting abortion.

“The FACE Act was ostensibly passed because of violence. But as my family knows very well, all it did was give violence the cover of law and place it in the hands of the government,” Vaughn said in his testimony, adding that the FACE Act was passed to “stifle free speech and abuse the rights of Christian conservatives.”

The Biden administration used the FACE Act to aggressively target pro-life Americans, many of whom engaged in peaceful protests against abortion. On Friday, however, the Trump DOJ issued a memo limiting prosecution under the FACE Act. The law will now only apply to “extraordinary circumstances” or cases involving “death, serious bodily harm, or serious property damage.”

“Additionally, until further notice, no new abortion-related FACE Act actions — criminal or civil — will be permitted without authorization from the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division,” the memo said.

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