FACE Act Prisoner Gives Praise to God after Trump Pardon Sets Her Free

Pro-life activist Bevelyn William said she was praising God after President Trump pardoned her from her 41-month prison sentence for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act). Williams, who only served 3 months in prison, went viral after video footage showed her reuniting with her 2-year-old child and husband after leaving prison.

"When I look at that video now, I tear up because I'm like, 'Wow … I'm back with my baby,'" she told CBN News. "Like, a part of me was gone, and, so, to just watch the fullness of me be reconnected … I'm still trying to take it in."

Best video of the week.

Pro-life prisoner and hero Bevelyn Williams reunites with her husband and daughter.

God is good! @mrrickeyvictory @mrsbevelyn pic.twitter.com/0ocoMasmD4

— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) January 27, 2025

Williams was among 22 others who were convicted of FACE Act violations and were all pardoned as soon as Trump took office last week. 

"I was praising God," she said. "I was in the middle of my cell block, screaming, praying in the Spirit, and praising God because, once again, He delivered."

A week before the pardoning took place, Williams recalled how the Lord impressed upon her heart the Old Testament story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

"They were thrown in that furnace, but what was scheduled to happen to them did not come to pass," she said. "And [God] was basically weighing it on me, like, 'Listen, it's not going to happen. You getting out and seeing your daughter at five years old and missing most of her younger years, it's not going to happen.'"

In July 2024, the United States Attorney's Office Southern District of New York issued a press release stating that Williams "violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (the "FACE Act") in June 2020 in connection with her interference, including by threats and force, with individuals seeking to obtain and provide lawful reproductive health services at a reproductive health center in Manhattan."

At the time, Attorney General U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, "Bevelyn Beatty Williams repeatedly intimidated and interfered with individuals seeking and providing critical reproductive health services.  She did so by physically blocking access to clinics, threatening staff, and by force. This Office and our law enforcement partners are committed to ensuring that patients exercising their legal right to obtain reproductive health services, and healthcare facilities and their staff providing those services, can do so without unlawful interference or fear of threats or violence."

Williams, who denies these allegations, told CBN News that she held a Jesus Matters rally in 2020 but never blocked doors or slammed anyone's hand.

"I never got arrested," she said. "I never got a citation. There's even a video going around on Facebook where I have a court officer saying I never blocked the doors."

"What was peculiar about my case is that they waited two years to prosecute me right after Roe v. Wade had been overturned to the states," Williams added. 

She continued that the Biden administration and the overturning of Roe V. Wade led to increased persecution against pro-life individuals. Despite her own legal conundrum, which she says was an unfair prosecution, Williams holds no ill will against those who detained her. 

"I'm a Christian," she said. "I'm never gonna sit and be a bitter individual when I know that persecution comes with the package. I knew that when I signed up. I knew that, when I carry my cross, He said, 'Count the cost.'"

Williams added, "If you're a mediocre Christian, you won't handle it. But if you really are serving God, it's going to happen. I really was persecuted for my faith. So, really, I was not ashamed of why I was there. I never in my mind thought, 'Man, I shouldn't have did it,' and, if anything, the prayer constantly while I was in prison was for peace, for Shalom. It's traumatizing to be in that prison."

Williams also says that she plans to continue her pro-life efforts, noting that new doors are opening with the movement. 

"I feel like God is placing me up as a display for zeal in Him and how He still delivers," she said. "And, so, if I can be like that voice of reason to people to just serve God and just trust Him … I feel like my job is to band people together."

Originally published January 31, 2025.