Elderly pro-life activist, Joan Bell, who was sentenced to more than two years in prison in November 2023 for her role in a pro-life blockade of a Washington, D.C. abortion clinic in 2020, was one of the nearly two-dozen activists pardoned. Elderly pro-life activist, Joan Bell, who was sentenced to more than two years in prison in November 2023 for her role in a pro-life blockade of a Washington, D.C. abortion clinic in 2020, was one of the nearly two-dozen activists pardoned.