Pro-life activist alleges intimidation by FBI at mother’s house.

Daniel ChaitinMay 19, 2023

Pro-Life Activist Suspects FBI Intimidation Tactics

Elise Ketch Believes FBI Agents Visiting Her Childhood Home Were Intimidating Her and Her Team

Elise Ketch, a member of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), suspects that the FBI’s true motive behind their visit to her parents’ home was to intimidate her and her team. Ketch made the assertion after noting that as far as she knows, the FBI “never” attempted to follow up with her or her attorney.

Ring camera footage published by the outlet shows two women, who identified themselves as FBI agents, speaking with Ketch’s mother at her home in Virginia. The agents said they wanted to speak with Ketch, insisting she was not in any trouble, but they would not state the purpose of the visit other than to claim it was to discuss some information sent to them.

Another video shows Ketch’s mother on the porch and calling her daughter to inform her about the visiting FBI agents. “Mom, don’t tell them anything,” Ketch replied.

Pro-Life Activists Facing Prosecution

Ketch said she had “no idea” what the agents wanted but guessed they attempted to discuss one of her colleagues facing prosecution. In particular, she mentioned PAAU activist Lauren Handy, whom the Justice Department charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by blocking access to an abortion clinic.

“While they reassured my mother that I was not in trouble, it’s also possible that they see me as a threat due to my pro-life activism and intended to investigate me,” Ketch said.

FBI Criticized for Tactics Against Pro-Life Movement Figures

The FBI has faced broader criticism for its tactics against pro-life movement figures, including acquitted Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck, and a House Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing on the issue this week.

When the FBI announced in January that it was offering $25,000 rewards for information on a series of attacks and threats against reproductive health service facilities, Director Christopher Wray vowed the bureau would “continue to work closely with our national, state, and local law enforcement partners to hold responsible anyone who uses extremist views to justify their criminal actions.”

Pro-Life Activist Refuses to Back Down

Ketch was arrested along with other pro-life activists in March for blocking traffic in front of a U.S. House office building. Handy said the group was demanding “justice” for the aborted fetuses she claimed to have obtained from a D.C. facility that provides abortions, according to The Washington Post.

Ketch told The Daily Signal that she refuses to back down. “This weaponization of our government institutions protects the abortion industrial complex, and it reinforces that we must disrupt these unjust power structures,” Ketch said. “The most prevalent domestic threat to our country is the murder of thousands of preborn people by abortion each day. It is not terrorism to nonviolently intervene and rescue these powerless children before their slaughter. I’m willing to risk my own freedom and sacrifice my rights in order to secure theirs.”