A man Trump pardoned just delivered a gut check during the March for Life

Donald Trump thought he was settling a score with the Biden DOJ when he pardoned pro-life activists.

But one of those activists isn't done fighting.

And a pro-life man who Trump pardoned just delivered a gut check during the March for Life.

Trump celebrated as hero by pro-life movement after pardons

President Trump made good on a campaign promise just three days into his second term when he pardoned 23 pro-life activists who'd been prosecuted under Biden's weaponized Department of Justice.

John Hinshaw, 69, spent 17 months behind bars for praying outside a Washington, D.C. abortion clinic operated by notorious late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo.

The same clinic where five late-term aborted babies were discovered, raising serious questions about illegal partial-birth abortions that the Biden DOJ refused to investigate.

Trump's pardons freed activists like Hinshaw who'd been slapped with felony charges and prison sentences that would make violent criminals blush.

Lauren Handy got 57 months for organizing a peaceful sit-in.

Joan Andrews Bell, 76 years old, received 27 months.

These weren't dangerous criminals — they were grandparents, priests, and parents who committed the unforgivable sin of opposing abortion.

The pro-life movement erupted in celebration when Trump signed the pardons in the Oval Office.

Vice President JD Vance told marchers at the 2026 March for Life that Trump heard their concerns and understood the debates within the movement.

But Hinshaw isn't satisfied with just a pardon.

Hinshaw calls out Trump for backing down on key pro-life issues

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation, Hinshaw dropped a bombshell that has Trump's team scrambling.

"President Trump, despite pardoning me, needs to do a better job," Hinshaw said.

He's still grateful for the pardon, noting Trump is doing "some good things."

But Hinshaw isn't pulling punches about where Trump has failed the pro-life movement.

"But you know, the last couple of weeks we've heard about backing off the Hyde Amendment," Hinshaw stated.

The Hyde Amendment blocks federal funding for abortion, and any retreat on that issue is a red line for serious pro-lifers.

"We heard that some funding was restored to Planned Parenthood with no explanation," he continued.

Trump's HHS quietly restored millions in frozen Title X grants to Planned Parenthood in December 2025 after the ACLU threatened lawsuits.

Several Planned Parenthood affiliates refused $2.3 million in unfrozen grants over DEI-related investigations, but the damage was done.

The administration gave ground to the abortion industry without a fight.

"And then of course, there is the ongoing scandal of abortion poison going out through the mail to women that the doctor has never met," Hinshaw added.

That's the issue that has pro-lifers like Hinshaw fuming.

Trump promised during his campaign that the FDA wouldn't block access to abortion pills.

But he also claimed states should decide abortion policy.

Those two positions can't coexist when mail-order abortion pills completely bypass state laws.

Mail-order abortion pills undermine Trump's states' rights position

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered an FDA review of mifepristone regulations in 2025.

Trump's administration has sent mixed signals — approving a generic version of the abortion pill while claiming to review its safety.

The FDA delayed the safety review until after the November 2026 midterm elections, according to Bloomberg.

SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser spelled out the problem Trump faces.

"The administration's position of 'back to the states' is being undermined every single day as abortion drugs flood illegally into pro-life states," Dannenfelser said.

She's right.

Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins called for enforcement of the Comstock Act to prevent abortion pills from going through the mail.

“What is delaying the progress on that?” Hawkins asked.

What's the point of letting states ban abortion if anyone can order pills through the mail and bypass state law entirely?

"It is time for the Trump-Vance administration to act and at a minimum restore in-person dispensing, getting these dangerous drugs out of the mail," Dannenfelser continued.

Biden's FDA eliminated the in-person requirement in January 2023, allowing women to get abortion pills through telemedicine without ever seeing a doctor face-to-face.

That's not healthcare — that's a mail-order death sentence for unborn children.

Hinshaw spent 17 months in federal prison because he tried to save babies outside an abortion clinic.

Now he's watching abortion pills flow through the mail into every state in the country, including the 14 states that have protected unborn life since Roe was overturned.

Trump can't have it both ways.

Either states decide abortion policy and the administration stops mail-order pills from undermining state laws, or Trump's "states' rights" position is a hollow talking point designed to avoid taking a real stand.

Hinshaw called Trump out on exactly that contradiction.

The President needs to make a choice — stand with the pro-life movement that helped elect him, or cave to political pressure and let the abortion industry operate without restrictions through the U.S. Postal Service.

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Sources:

• Katelynn Richardson, "EXCLUSIVE: Jailed Pro-Lifer Pardoned By Trump Says President 'Needs To Do A Better Job'," Daily Caller News Foundation, January 23, 2026.
• "Trump pardons 23 pro-life activists convicted of FACE Act violations," National Catholic Reporter, January 24, 2025.
• "Trump Administration Announces that FDA Will Consider Imposing Greater Restrictions on Medication Abortion Nationwide," American Civil Liberties Union, May 28, 2025.
• "Factbox-US Abortion Pill Access Under Fire: Lawsuits and Regulatory Battles to Watch in 2026," U.S. News & World Report, January 1, 2026.