USATrump pardons abortion opponents with criminal convictions
SDA
24.1.2025 - 17:18
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews for a trip to North Carolina and California. Photo: Jess Rapfogel/AP/dpa
Keystone
US President Donald Trump has pardoned several anti-abortion activists who were prosecuted for related offenses. There are 23 people involved, the Republican explained at the signing ceremony in the White House. "They should never have been prosecuted. It is a great honor for me to sign this." Trump later told journalists that the detainees would soon be released.
Keystone-SDA
24.01.2025, 17:18
SDA
According to US media reports, these include several activists who were convicted in 2020 for blockading an abortion clinic in the capital Washington. In the USA, it is expressly forbidden to deny women access to clinics or threaten them in the process. Radical opponents of abortion argued that they were merely exercising their right to freedom of expression in this way.
The case of an activist who, according to the New York Times, has now been pardoned and was sentenced to almost five years in prison last year as the person largely responsible for the protest, attracted particular attention.
Abortions almost completely banned in some cases
Trump's pardons came shortly before the "March for Life", an annual demonstration by anti-abortion activists in Washington. The organizers are expecting up to 150,000 participants this time. Prominent speakers include Vice President J.D. Vance and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who recently signed a strict ban on abortion in his state.
During his first term in office, Trump created a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, which overturned the landmark ruling on nationwide abortion rights in 2022. Since then, the states have decided individually on their legislation. In many Republican-governed states, abortions are now almost completely banned - in some even in cases of rape or incest.
During the election campaign, however, Trump distanced himself from the uncompromising anti-abortion stance of some hardliners in his party - probably also because most people in the USA are in favor of a limited right to abortion, according to polls.