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 pardons were part of a round of executive orders signed by Trump on Thursday, one of several in the first week of his presidency.
Trump called the sentences “ridiculous,” but abortion rights activists said the move was evidence of his opposition to abortion access.
The orders come a day before anti-abortion protesters descend on Washington for the annual March for Life, which the president is scheduled to address via video link.
In 2020 Trump became the first sitting president to attend the rally in person, although George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan also addressed it remotely.
Vice President JD Vance will attend in person this time.
The rally has been held in the US capital every year since 1974, the year after abortion was legalized by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade.
Abortion rights have been a key issue in recent presidential races, and the court overturned the ruling in 2022.
In signing the pardons, Trump said of the activists: “They should not have been prosecuted. A lot of them are elderly people… I'm very honored to sign this. They're going to be very happy.”
American media reported that one of those pardoned was Lauren Handy, leader of the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU).
The group was convicted of conspiracy in 2020. for breaking into a Washington Reproductive Health Clinic and blocking access to intimidate patients and staff. Members forced their way into the Surgical Clinic, injuring a nurse and spending several hours inside.
Handy was found guilty in August 2023 and sentenced in May 2024.
Her supporters welcomed the pardons, saying the sentences were political.
The president of Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, 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 reaffirmed their belief that Trump is anti-abortion, even though he said 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 Associated Press: “Donald Trump on the campaign trail tried to have it both ways — bragging about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade while saying, that he will not take action on abortion.
“We never believed that to be true, and this shows us that we were right.”