Trump pardons 23 anti-abortion protesters
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 23: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a series of executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on January 23, 2025, in Washington, DC. Trump signed a range of executive orders pertaining to issues including cryptocurrency, Artificial Intelligence, and clemency for anti-abortion activists. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON, United States — US President Donald Trump signed pardons Thursday for 23 anti-abortion protesters whom the White House said were prosecuted under his predecessor Joe Biden’s administration.
“They should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office the day before a major anti-abortion march in Washington.
“This is a great honor to sign this.”
An aide at the ceremony said the pardoned people were “peaceful pro-life protesters” but the White House did not immediately release more details on them.
US media said the protesters were convicted of blocking access to abortion clinics.
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Republican Trump is reportedly scheduled to address the “March for Life” in Washington on Friday via video, while Vice President JD Vance will appear in person.
Trump has recently kept his position on the politically explosive issue of abortion deliberately vague.
While the US Christian right has called for federal restrictions on the practice, Trump has said he wants to leave the issue to individual US states to decide.
But he has repeatedly claimed credit for the 2022 ruling by the US Supreme Court – conservative-dominated thanks to justices appointed during his first term – that overturned the nationwide federal right to abortion.
READ: Trump moves to contain fallout of abortion, IVF rows
Since the Supreme Court ruling, at least 20 US states have brought in full or partial restrictions on abortion.
Trump has reached out to his base with a series of pardons since starting his second presidential term on Monday.
Within hours of his inauguration, he pardoned some 1,500 people accused of involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by supporters trying to overturn his election loss to Biden.
Trump then on Wednesday pardoned two police officers who were convicted over the death of a 20-year-old Black man in a car chase in Washington in 2020.
