President Donald Trump on Thursday issued pardons for nearly two dozen people who were convicted for blocking access to and temporarily shutting down abortion clinics, some of whom are currently serving federal sentences.

“They should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people,” Trump said. “This is a great honor to sign this.”

Trump described the group as “peaceful protesters.” Yet many of them were charged with barricading the doors of clinics with bicycle locks and other implements, pushing and in some cases injuring clinic workers, and preventing patients from accessing health services.