The Daily Signal - Trump’s Pardoned Pro-Lifers: Paul Vaughn

Episode Date: March 8, 2025

In March 2021, Paul Vaughn, along with 10 other a pro-life activist, demonstrated outside the Carafem Health Center, an abortion clinic in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Vaughn was sentenced to three years of supervised release, including six months of home detention, after a jury convicted him of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for blocking the entrance to the abortion clinic, according to court documents. The Daily Signal’s Elizabeth Mitchell sat down with Vaughn to talk about his efforts to repeal the FACE Act. Since its passage in 1994, 97% of FACE Act arrests have been against pro-lifers, even though, “the law ostensibly is supposed to protect churches and places of worship and reproductive health centers”, argues Vaughn. Paul Vaughn was one of the 23 pro-lifers President Trump pardoned in January 2025. Catch up on the latest interviews in our "Trump's Pardoned Pro-Lifers" series by going to YouTube now: https://youtu.be/HW6Ggw4xh7g Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We need to repeal the Face Act. I understand it's a tall lift for the Senate, but this needs to happen. It was an illegal law when it was passed, and it's been illegally used. We have the numbers after 30 years over, I think it was 96, 97% of the cases, 205 arrest out of 211 have been against pro-lifers, even though the law ostensibly is supposed to protect churches and places of worship and reproductive health centers, you know, the crisis pregnancy centers. I'm here with Paul Vaughn in the law. latest of our series on the pardoned pro-lifers who were convicted under the FACE Act and pardoned

by President Trump. Could you tell us a little bit about what it was like to be convicted under the face act? Well, sure, it's kind of a long time coming. We were active in the early 90s doing rescue and pro-life counseling on the streets and stuff when the FACE Act was handed down. And, you know, we thought we were obeying the rules that they laid down 30 years ago. And all of sudden we find out that now we're we're being charged with FACE when we didn't do any of the underlying offense. So it was very surprising to say the least. What did they say that you did that violated FACE? Well, FACE makes it a felony, a federal offense rather to block or intimidate or impede the entrance to an abortion clinic. And so that's what they said I did.

But of course, I didn't do those things. There were people that day of the event in March of 21 at care of them clinic that sat down at the doors and intentionally blocked the door to try to interpose on behalf of the unborn. I wasn't one of them. I was a sidewalk counselor. We talked to people coming in and out. We talked to the police officers. We prayed. We sing hymns. Just typical sidewalk type ministry. It was in a multi-use building. So it went on the sidewalk. It was in the hallways. But it was still a public, you know, access building. And that's where we were. So it's very, you know, they couldn't have got me under face. but they used a conspiracy law that they intentionally applied it in such a way as to bring myself

and another one of the co-defendants into the trial. And a SWAT team came to your house in front of some of your 11 children, correct? Yeah, that's right. I mean, 18 months later, so the event was March of 21, October 5th of 22, after the fall of row and June of 22, four armed agents in tactical gear with long guns, weapons, of war and pistols and everything else show up at my door banging on the house at 7 o'clock in the morning and open up FBI and, you know, just a very Gestapo-style raid and arrest me at gunpoint, literally open the curtain of my door to see a pistol and a weapon, automatic weapon trained on me,

you know, trigger away from being shot. Wow. And then you were on house arrest? Yeah, so we ultimately didn't go to trial until January of 24 and then weren't sentenced until July of that same year, 24, and we received six months house arrest and then we, in three years parole. What was that like? Well, in a normal Christian family, you have a husband and a wife making decisions for their children and in life every day. And from the time we were arrested in October of 22 until, ultimately until the pardon came down in January, we were, we had the government in our bedroom. Every time we wanted to go somewhere out of the Middle District of Tennessee,

we couldn't go without asking the parole officer. Once we were on house arrest, I couldn't go anywhere except for work and church and, you know, very limited, obviously, in our travel there. So it was like having a third party in our marriage. Wow. And what was it like to find out that you were pardoned? Yeah, you know, it was a mix of emotions, to be honest. It was a great joy. We greatly appreciate President Trump and where he is and his, is keeping his, you know, his campaign promises. That was a big thing. And we were rejoicing, obviously, more so my house arrest had just ended on January 2nd. And this came down on January 23rd.

So I'd been off house arrest for, you know, 21 days or whatever. So it wasn't a big deal to us. I mean, obviously another two and a half years of parole was huge for us personally. But we had friends in prison. And there had been people from D.C. rescue and from other rescues that didn't bring in prison for over a year and had some of them facing up to five years. So we were greatly rejoicing on their behalf more so even than our own at some level. Now, the other side of the coin, it was also kind of depressing and in a sense of, oh, well, now you're done. Sorry, the process is a punishment

took two and a half years, 26 months out of your life. And you suffered all these sayings and you went through and risk being shot by FBI agents that were, you know, illegal on your property, illegally using the law against us and all the lawfare and all that. So there's the question of, well, where is the justice where we appreciate the pardon, but, you know, American shouldn't live under the threat of their government coming and busting in their life and wrecking their life for two years just to walk away and say, oh, we're sorry now. What needs to happen for you and the others with similar experience to get justice for that? Sure. I think, you know, ultimately we know, all of us are mainly Christians, and we understand there is eternal justice, and God's justice

is the best, and we're not concerned, you know, ultimately with that from our own perspective. But then there's also the public duty to our fellow men and to other pro-lifers and to other, quite honestly, people across the spectrum. If you are opposing the correct, you know, the correct narrative, then you risk this kind of Gestapo action. And so we're looking at what little bit of law is available to us to go after a potential suit, the whole, hold the government accountable for these actions to make sure that doesn't happen in the future. And then the other aspect of this, Elizabeth, is we've been here in D.C. talking about the FACE Act with Heritage Foundation. And, you know, we need to repeal the FACE Act. I understand it's a

tall lift for the Senate, but this needs to happen. It is a, it was an illegal law when it was passed and it's been illegally used. We have the numbers after 30 years over, I think it was 96, 97% of the cases, 205 arrest out of 211 have been against pro-lifers, even though the law ostensibly is supposed to protect churches and places of worship and reproductive health centers, you know, the crisis pregnancy centers. So the FACE Act needs to go. Representative Roy spoke at that FACE Act event and said that he is going to make sure there's a vote on this, even if there's resistance from Republicans in the House. Why do you think it's really important to move forward on getting rid of the FACE Act?

Well, I think it's just a standard piece of legislation, a standard response and a duty, really, for our elected representatives that are elected to serve the people. And there's an understanding about the FACE Act itself as a, as the government weighing in on the public narrative and our public discussions around abortion. And so if you think of it as a waterfall effect, when they made it a felony to go and sit down and do a sit-in, which is a common American, practice of protest, and it's not technically what Christians were doing as a sin, and they're more interposing trying to save babies. But if you just take the sit-in aspect of it and understand that as a protest, and that there's all these other elements of the pro-life movement, whether it's sidewalk counselors, whether it's crisis pregnancy centers, whether it's people that are lobbying in a political arm of it, or the legal and legislative arm as well. So when you take and make something a federal

offense at the doors, then that has a ripple effect all the way through the pro-life community, and it weights that scale of that discussion for our public discussion. And so it really takes, you know, if you think of Americans, we look at, we look at numbers on TV, we see a protest or we see something going on, and we drive by and see a bunch of people out at a commerce center someplace downtown. And we go, oh, well, that's 12 people. I wonder who those crazy people are. Oh, there's 10,000 people there. Well, that must be something I should check and see what that is. And that's the way that it waits that discussion and changes the public opinion. And the government said, you can talk about all these other things, but don't talk about the unborn babies. They're off

limits. So that's the other reason, really, just for American life and our republic. You know, it depends on free speech as an invaluable foundation for everything that we hold dear in life and liberty and pursuit of happiness. Absolutely. What would your message be to President Trump after pardoning you and the 22 others? Well, first, thank you. I mean, obviously, gratitude and just great respect, again, for keeping his promises. But I was also say that we have to be consistent with our message and that if we believe the unborn are humans, as we all are and always were from the moment of conception, then there is no number to look for, whether it's six weeks or 12 weeks or anything, any other number that's going to be consistent in applying some kind of

law to the concept of abortion or terminating unborn children. So we need to, you know, consistency and we need leadership in that and we need that narrative to shift so that we as the people in America can begin taking responsibility for our actions and we can begin cherishing and loving life from the moment of conception. At a person of alliance, our, you know, slogan or kind of our ideology is that human life equals human rights. And it's that simple. From the moment you're human, you have rights in this country and you're valued and you reflect the image of God. And we want to protect that. Absolutely. Is there anything else you like to? to add about this? No, I just, I appreciate you sitting down and the daily signal covering all the

pro-lifers and those that have been persecuted. And, you know, I would just, I would encourage Americans, the church in America, just broadly. There is a, there's a story to be told. And God's telling the story. And, you know, the FBI meant intimidation and fear to be the message that went through the American church and went through specifically the pro-life community. when they came to my door and knocked on the door, they knocked on every door in America with this message. And I hope that what people are seeing is that God is faithful, and we can trust him. And all we have to do is just be a little bit courageous and stand up and speak truth,

even if all the cultural pressure is against us and says the unborn baby don't have value or that, you know, whatever the narrative is, if you have a truth and conviction in your faith, you can just stand and say that pleasantly with a smile, and you can trust. trust that God will show up and do the work and ultimately that our culture will be better because of it. So I just hope the church would be encouraged by our suffering and our meager persecution in this and that hopefully ultimately it just enables and encourages folks to be what they're supposed to be in Christ and that is a Christian with a heart to love and serve your neighbor and do it with a smile and with great joy.

Absolutely. Thank you so much for everything you're doing on this and for joining at the show. Thanks for having us. Subscribe to get the news the legacy media won't tell you and only the daily signal can bring to you.