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US President Donald Trump has pardoned 23 anti-abortion activists, including some convicted of blocking a reproductive health clinic and intimidating staff and patients.
The pellets were part of a round of executive orders signed by Trump on Thursday, one of several in the first week of his presidency.
Trump described the convictions as “ridiculous,” but abortion rights activists said the move was evidence of his opposition to abortion access.
The orders came a day before anti-abortion protesters were due to come to Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life, which the president is scheduled to address via videoolink.
In 2020, Trump became the first sitting president to attend the rally in person, although George W Bush and Ronald Reagan have also addressed it remotely.
Vice President JD Vance will attend in person this time.
The rally has been held in the United States capital every year since 1974, a year after abortion was legalized by the Supreme Court’s Roe V Wade.
Abortion rights have been a key issue in recent presidential races and the court overturned the ruling in 2022.
Signing the pardons, Trump said of the activists: “They should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people… This is a great honor to sign this. They will be very happy.”
American media report that one of those pardoned is Lauren Handy, leader of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising Group (PAAU).
The group was convicted of conspiracy in 2020 to raid a Washington reproductive health clinic and block access to intimidated patients and staff. The members forced their way into the surgery, injuring a nurse, and spent several hours inside.
Handy was convicted in August 2023 and sentenced in May 2024.
His supporters have hailed the pardons, saying the convictions were political.
Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said the protesters were targeted by Joe Biden’s Justice Department and she thanked Trump for “immediately following through on his promise” to pardon them.
But abortion rights activists said the pardons confirmed their belief that Trump was anti-abortion, even though he declared during his presidential campaign that it was up to individual states to decide whether to allow the practice.
Ryan Stitzlein of the National Abortion Rights Organization, Reproductive Freedom for All told the AP News Agency: “Donald Trump on the campaign tried to have it both ways, boasting about his role in overturning Roe V Wade while saying that he was not going to take action on abortion.
“We never believed that was true, and this shows us that we were right.”