Guest post by Janet Morana, Executive Director of Priests for Life
Joe Biden ensured his son Hunter will be home for Christmas by pardoning his conviction on federal gun charges before he could even be sentenced.
And Biden also has commuted the sentences of 1,500 inmates who were sent home during the Covid lockdown. Now all of them will be able to spend Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa with their loved ones.
Let’s take a look at a few of those whose sentences were commuted.
- There’s Michael Conahan, who was a judge in Pennsylvania when he was convicted in a scheme that had children locked up in for-profit prisons, whose owner would split the profits with the corrupt jurist.
- Jim Carlson owned a head shop in Duluth, Minn., where he sold enough synthetic drugs, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, “to cause a public health crisis.” He was convicted on 51 felony counts.
- Tremayne Guin was convicted in 2017 of distributing heroin and fentanyl in the Cleveland area. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Those who will not be home for the holidays are more than a dozen pro-lifers currently serving time in federal prison for trying to save the unborn from abortion.
President Biden, before you leave office, please do the right thing and release these peaceful souls whose only crime is caring too much about the unborn and their mothers.
Here’s a look at a few of those who are inside:
Joan Andrews Bell and Paulette Harlow, both 76; Jean Marshall and Chet Gallagher, both 75; Joan Hinshaw, 69; Cal Zastrow, 63.
Then there’s Heather Idoni, a mother of 15 children, including 10 sons adopted from Ukraine. She suffered a stroke while in prison, awaiting trial in one of three states where she was charged.
All of the pro-lifers were convicted of conspiracy against rights as well as violating the Clinton-era FACE Act – Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances.
It’s likely that, once he is inaugurated, President Trump will pardon these pro-lifers, but that means at least another month in prison for people willing to sacrifice their freedom to try to save the unborn from a violent death.
A bill introduced in this Congress by Texas Rep. Chip Roy to repeal the FACE Act might meet with more success if he re-introduces it in the next term, so there is light on the horizon for those behind bars and for those still committed to ending abortion.
But why make those in federal prison wait? These are people whose only weapon is prayer and whose activism is directed at one thing only, saving lives. They didn’t sell drugs or political influence or send children to prison.
I can’t help thinking of Lady Justice, the statue found outside courtrooms all over the world. She is blindfolded and holds a set of balanced scales in one hand. But with drug dealers going free and pro-lifers in lockup, it should be clear to anyone paying attention that justice is far from balanced in the final days of Biden’s term.
President Biden, please make one of your last acts as president be to right this grievous wrong and free these political prisoners.
Janet Morana is the executive director of Priests for Life and the co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
