DOJ reaches million-dollar settlement with pro-life father targeted by Biden admin 

The Justice Department has agreed to pay a seven-figure settlement to Paul Vaughn, a Christian father of 11 whose home the FBI raided after he took part in a peaceful pro-life protest.

The exact amount is not public, but it is at least $1 million.

The Thomas More Society, which represented Vaughn, announced the agreement Tuesday.

“Obviously, money doesn’t equate justice, and there’s not a true sense of justice in the settlement, but it is an acknowledgment of wrong and it is something to help make up for the time lost,” Vaughn told reporters.

The case began with a March 5, 2021, protest at the Carafem abortion facility in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, near Nashville.

Pro-life advocates gathered outside the business, which is on the second floor of a larger medical building. They prayed, sang hymns and urged women not to abort their unborn children.

Some members of the group sat in front of the facility’s doors. A federal appeals court later said they blocked at least one patient and one worker from entering.

Vaughn’s lawyers say he did not sit in front of the doors or block anyone. They say he served as the liaison between the protesters and police officers. The appeals court said Vaughn spoke with police to try to buy more time for the group.

The protest lasted almost three hours. The abortion facility started seeing patients again that afternoon.

Federal prosecutors waited about 18 months before charging Vaughn. Armed FBI agents came to his home early on Oct. 5, 2022.

Seven of Vaughn’s children, who ranged in age from 18 months to 18 years, were home. Vaughn told Fox News that an agent “basically held at gunpoint” three of his children who were outside. He said one young child still suffers from anxiety because of the raid.

“God’s been gracious to us and has helped us through this process,” Vaughn said. “But there’s still a lot of unknowns of how does this impact a child’s life, going into their adult years.”

A federal jury convicted Vaughn in January 2024 of a misdemeanor violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and felony conspiracy against rights.

The FACE Act makes it a federal crime to use force, threats or physical obstruction to interfere with someone seeking or providing an abortion. It also applies to attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches.

Vaughn faced up to 10½ years in prison and a fine of up to $260,000.

The Biden Justice Department asked a judge to sentence him to one year in prison. The judge refused and instead sentenced Vaughn to time served, three years of supervised release and six months of home confinement, as Heartlander News reported in 2024.

President Donald Trump pardoned Vaughn and 23 other pro-life advocates on Jan. 23, 2025, while Vaughn was appealing his conviction.

One day later, the Justice Department changed its FACE Act policy. Prosecutors may now bring abortion-related FACE Act cases only in extraordinary circumstances or when the conduct results in death, serious bodily harm or serious property damage.

The Justice Department later reviewed about 700,000 internal records. In an April 2026 report, the department said the Biden administration used the FACE Act in a biased way against pro-life Americans while giving extensive assistance to abortion facilities and downplaying attacks on pregnancy centers.

“The behavior unearthed in this report is shameful,” Assistant Attorney General Daniel Burrows said in a release. “Lawyers who should have known better withheld evidence, worked to keep committed religious people off juries, and generally allowed the Department of Justice to be used as the enforcement arm of pro-abortion special interests.”

Steve Crampton, senior counsel at the Thomas More Society, said Vaughn’s settlement should help deter similar actions against people of faith.

“This family did nothing wrong. Paul prayed and sang,” Crampton said. “What was done to Paul and his family was a profound injustice, and we are grateful that this settlement acknowledges that.”

(Image credit: Thomas More Society, cropped)