Pardoned Pro-Life Activist Says He’s Running ‘On Adrenaline And The Holy Ghost’ After Trump Pardon

Calvin Zastrow thought he was in trouble when a prison guard banged on his cell door late Thursday night, interrupting his sleep. Zastrow, who was in prison over a peaceful pro-life protest, found out moments later that he was going free thanks to a pardon issued by President Donald Trump. 

While Trump announced Thursday afternoon that he was pardoning 23 pro-life protesters who had been targeted by the Biden administration, Zastrow did not immediately find out because he had been stuck in his prison cell for six days due to a prison lockdown. He only heard the news when he was woken up by prison guards at 10:00 p.m. By 11:30 he had been processed out of Federal Correctional Institute, Thomson in Illinois, where he had spent the last three months. 

“They came and banged on my door loud and woke me up and that’s never a good sign when a guard comes and bangs on your door,” he told The Daily Wire Friday morning. “But they said, ‘hey, you got pardoned, you’re out.” 

After he was told the news, Zastrow, 64, gathered up his Bible, the letters people had written to him, some books, and his hat and coat. He was freed at the same time as Jonathan Darnel, another pro-lifer who had been serving 34 months in Thomson.

Zastrow’s pardon comes nearly a year after he was convicted in Nashville of violating the FACE Act and civil rights conspiracy over a peaceful protest at an abortion facility in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee in March 2021. During that protest, Zastrow and others sang, prayed, and urged women not to get abortions.  

As Zastrow and Darnel walked out of prison together they sang the Christian hymn “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” a song that has been a staple at many of the pro-life trials that happened across the country last year. 

He said he would like to thank Trump in person for issuing the pardon. “When can we come see you and thank you?” he told The Daily Wire of what he would say to the president. When he issued the pardons, Trump said that it was an “honor” for him to sign, calling their prosecutions “ridiculous.” 

“Well, I’m humbled by that,” Zastrow said. “I am just another guy serving the Lord and that would be an honor if my family and I could come and shake his hand and look him in the eyeball and say thanks.” 

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Trish Zastrow, who has been married to Cal for over 40 years, spoke to The Daily Wire on Thursday, saying she was “really excited to have my husband home,” and that “God has been so good.” She said that her “insides are just jumping for joy and praising God.” 

“The love and the support from family and friends from all over the country has just been overwhelming,” she said. “Nice to have people rejoice with you and it’s nice to have people stand with you in the midst of trials. Being a part of the family of God is an amazing thing.” 

Trish and two of her daughters and son-in-law drove through the night from their home in Michigan to meet Zastrow at the hotel in Fulton, Illinois, the prison had booked for him. They were reunited shortly after 4:00 a.m. The reunion is not done yet, as Zastrow still has a new grandson back in Michigan waiting to meet him. 

“I haven’t slept a wink,” Zastrow told The Daily Wire. “I’m still on adrenaline and the Holy Ghost.” 

He said that a couple of January 6 prisoners had been released a few days earlier, and he was starting to wonder if a pardon would come his way. Zastrow said he was resolved to continue to share his faith with his fellow prisoners if he was not pardoned.  

“How cruel, how vicious, how selfish would it be if I got pardoned and the prison didn’t come and tell me,” he said. “The Father pardons our sin because of what Jesus did. Well, how cruel and selfish is it of us not to go tell everybody in the world about God’s love and pardon.” 

Both he and his wife also want to keep the focus on why they were imprisoned in the first place, the thousands of babies aborted every day in the United States. 

“I’m glad it’s being brought to the forefront for people to realize that these babies that are aborted are living human beings made in God’s image,” Trish said. 

Other pro-lifers imprisoned by the Biden administration have already been freed as well, including Joan Bell and Bevelyn Williams, a young mother who had been sentenced to 41 months in prison for a protest at a Manhattan abortion facility. Williams posted an emotional video showing her being reunited with her young child and husband. 

Others freed included Lauren Handy, who had been sentenced to 57 months in prison over a protest at a late-term abortion facility in Washington, D.C., and Heather Idoni, a 60-year-old grandmother who has been in prison for over a year. 

“It was disgraceful what happened to them. That was a persecution,” Trump said Friday morning as he spoke to reporters. 

The Thomas More Society, which requested the pardons for 21 of the defendants, thanked Trump for his order. 

“What happened to them can never be erased, but today’s pardons are a huge step towards restoring justice,” Steve Crampton said. “Thank you to President Trump and his team for righting these grievous wrongs of the previous administration.”

Crampton told The Daily Wire that he and his team still planned to pursue legal challenges against the FACE Act despite the pardons. Nearly all prosecutions of the FACE Act since its passage in 1994 have been against pro-lifers, even though it is supposed to protect church and crisis pregnancy centers as well. 

Legislation to repeal the FACE Act was introduced this week by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)

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