Freedom of Access To Clinic Entrances Act - Effectiveness of The Act

Effectiveness of The Act

According to statistics gathered by the National Abortion Federation (NAF), incidents of the more disastrous forms of violence (such as murder, attempted murder, bombing and arson) have greatly decreased since 1994, the year the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances act was put on the books. The Clinton administration prosecuted 17 defendants for violations of the F.A.C.E. act in 1997 alone and prosecuted an average of about 10 defendants per year since the law was enacted. The Bush administration, however, only prosecuted about two defendants per year for violations of the F.A.C.E. act. According to Cathleen Mahoney, Executive Vice President of the National Abortion Federation and former attorney for the Justice Department, "The amount of activity really did drop a lot after FACE was enacted and it was beginning to be enforced".