Why it Matters

A House subcommittee is preparing to scrutinize the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a federal law that has protected access to reproductive health facilities since 1994, with a hearing framed around whether the statute has become a tool of federal overreach. The stakes are significant: the hearing comes as the Republican-led Judiciary Committee has already advanced legislation to repeal the law entirely, and the subcommittee chair is the same lawmaker who introduced that repeal bill.

The Law Under Review

The FACE Act makes it a federal crime to use force, threat of force, or physical obstruction to prevent individuals from obtaining or providing reproductive health services, or from exercising religious freedom at a place of worship. Critics on the right have argued that the Biden Justice Department weaponized the law against anti-abortion protesters, pursuing prosecutions they characterize as disproportionate and constitutionally suspect.

The hearing's title, "From Tool To Weapon," signals the Republican framing: that a law designed to protect clinic access has been turned against constitutionally protected protest activity, raising questions about the appropriate scope of federal criminal jurisdiction.

The Repeal Push Already in Motion

The April 28, 2026 hearing does not arrive in a vacuum. H.R. 589, the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025, was ordered reported out of the full Judiciary Committee on March 10, 2025, on a 13-10 party-line vote. The bill would strike Section 248 of Title 18 entirely, applying retroactively to pending prosecutions.

The bill's sponsor is Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who also chairs the Subcommittee on Constitution and Limited Government, the panel convening this hearing. A majority of the Republican members on the subcommittee are also cosponsors of H.R. 589, including Reps. Harriet Hageman, Brandon Gill, Mark Harris, Bob Onder Jr., Glenn Grothman, and Thomas Massie.

A companion bill, S. 223, was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Mike Lee and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2025.

This is not the first attempt. Roy introduced a nearly identical bill in the 118th Congress, H.R. 5577, which drew 48 Republican cosponsors but did not advance past committee referral.

A Broader Agenda on Federal Criminal Law

The clinic access legislation is not the only item the subcommittee is examining. The April 28, 2026 hearing is also expected to address a cluster of bills targeting the scope of federal criminal statutes more broadly, including H.R. 59 (Mens Rea Reform Act of 2025), H.R. 98 (End Endless Criminal Statutes Act), H.R. 2159 (Count the Crimes to Cut Act of 2025), and H.R. 421 (Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act). Together, these bills reflect a sustained Republican effort to curtail what they describe as the overcriminalization of federal law.

Who's in the Room

The Subcommittee on Constitution and Limited Government convenes at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in 2141 Rayburn House Office Building. Roy chairs the panel; Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) serves as ranking member.

The Democratic minority on the subcommittee includes Reps. Steve Cohen, Becca Balint, Pramila Jayapal, Joe Neguse, Sydney Kamlager, Dan Goldman, and Jamie Raskin, several of whom have been vocal defenders of the FACE Act. Full committee Chair Jim Jordan is also listed among the subcommittee's membership.

Competing Interests Lobbying the Hill

Organizations on both sides of the FACE Act repeal have been active on Capitol Hill. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has lobbied in support of repeal, while Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, and the Family Research Council have lobbied in opposition.

On the adjacent question of facial recognition technology, which intersects with the hearing's broader constitutional and law enforcement themes, Clearview AI and Motorola Solutions have both filed lobbying disclosures in the First Quarter of 2026 addressing facial recognition legislation and privacy concerns. The Brennan Center for Justice has also been active on artificial intelligence, civil liberties, and surveillance issues before Congress.

The Political Backdrop

Democrats are expected to use the hearing to argue that repealing the FACE Act would strip federal protections from patients and clinic workers and effectively immunize those who physically block access to reproductive health services. Republicans, led by Roy, are expected to press the argument that federal criminal jurisdiction has been stretched beyond its constitutional limits and selectively enforced against political opponents.

The congressional hearing schedule places this debate squarely in the middle of an election cycle in which reproductive rights remain among the most contested issues in American politics. With H.R. 589 already cleared out of the full Judiciary Committee, the hearing may serve less as deliberation and more as a public argument for or against a bill that is already moving.

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