Two FBI agents showed up at the childhood home of a pro-life activist and told her mother that they needed to speak with the activist due to some “information” they received. The incident was captured on Ring camera footage obtained by The Daily Signal.
Elise Ketch, 26, is a member of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), an organization comprised of mostly left-leaning activists who believe abortion is murder. The group gained national prominence after exposing five bodies of aborted babies from the clinic of Washington D.C. abortion practitioner Cesare Santangelo.
Ketch joined the group in December 2022 after volunteering for a few months, the Daily Signal reported. The 26-year-old joined the group not long after the Biden DOJ charged multiple members with violations for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) act, which elevates the act of “obstructing” entrance to an abortion clinic a federal offense.
Ketch has participated in a number of activities with PAUU, including the “Pink Rose Rescues” initiative where activists hand out pink roses to people in the waiting room of abortion clinics, then leave if told they are trespassing. She also participated in a peaceful protest where she and other PAUU members were arrested for blocking the street outside the Rayburn House Office Building in an effort to draw attention to the discovery of the bodies last year.
On April 18, two FBI agents showed up at the childhood home of Ketch in Woodbridge, Virginia.
The activist’s mother opened the door, noting that she was in a meeting and only answered because of the “persistence” of whoever was knocking. The agents then identified themselves as Ashley Roberts and Kathleen Brown. “We’re both with the FBI,” Roberts told Ketch’s mother. “We just need to speak with her regarding some information that was sent to us.”
When Ketch’s mother explained that her daughter no longer lived there, the agents asked for her phone number or place of residence. “She’s not in any trouble,” Roberts said. “We just have some information we need to ask her about.”
Elise Ketch told The Daily Signal that she has “no idea what information the FBI was sent,” though she speculated that they might have been fishing for information to build a case against a fellow activist. “My colleague at Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, Lauren Handy, is indicted under the FACE Act and is being prosecuted by the federal government,” she said. “It’s plausible that these FBI agents aimed to collect information from me to help build their case against her.”
“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 speculated. “Yet, to my knowledge, they never attempted to follow up with me or my attorney, so I believe the FBI’s true motive behind their visit to my parents’ home was to intimidate me and my team.”
Ketch added that the visit made her fear for her family’s safety.