Watchdog group demands answers to US Army training labeling pro-life groups 'terrorists'
A watchdog group is demanding answers following a U.S. Army training that labeled pro-life organizations as "terrorist groups,” citing people who counsel women outside abortion facilities or display Choose Life license plates on their cars as potential threats.
Judicial Watch, a conservative foundation that seeks accountability in government, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense in the District Court for the District of Columbia last week. The foundation says it filed the lawsuit after failing to receive a response to an Aug. 13 request.
The suit is in response to a briefing titled “Terrorist Groups” at Fort Liberty in North Carolina that went viral earlier this year. One of the slides in the presentation cited the pro-life groups National Right to Life and Operation Rescue as examples of terrorist groups. In addition to sidewalk counseling or supporting pregnancy resource centers through Choose Life license plates, the slides also cited opposition to Roe v. Wade as a potential terrorist trait.
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The presentation didn't appear to distinguish between law-abiding advocacy and illegal forms of activism, such as “The Rescue.” Pro-lifers who engage in what they call “The Rescue” typically enter abortion facilities unlawfully to pass out pregnancy help information to women, sometimes refusing to leave until police arrest them.
The slides used in the briefing at Fort Liberty appeared to imply all of the actions listed were examples of someone who could bomb an abortion facility or commit violence against abortion workers.
National Right to Life President Carol Tobias referred to the briefing as "deeply offensive" to pro-life Americans and a "demonstration of lazy scholarship” in a statement to The Christian Post at the time.
In its FOIA request, Judicial Watch asked for all documents related to labeling pro-life organizations and individuals as “terrorists” in anti-terrorism training materials. Judicial Watch also requested copies of all of the emails sent to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, Under Secretary Gabe Camarillo, Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, and Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus regarding the designation of pro-lifers as “terrorists.”
“Let’s be blunt — the radical leftist Biden-Harris administration is trying to set our military against conservative American citizens,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement on Tuesday. “And that we have had to sue after being denied basic records about the Army’s targeting of pro-life Christians makes the scandal worse.”
The DoD did not respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
In July, Fort Liberty released a statement in response to the controversy, saying that the appropriate approval authorities hadn't properly vetted the slides prior to the briefing. Fort Liberty added that the slides did not represent its views, nor did they reflect the views of the XVIII Airborne Corps, the U.S. Army or the DoD.
"The slides were developed by a local garrison employee to train soldiers manning access control points at Fort Liberty," the statement said. "These slides will no longer be used, and all future training products will be reviewed to ensure they align with the current DoD anti-terrorism guidance."
The controversy over the Fort Liberty briefing and Judicial Watch’s suit comes amid accusations from pro-lifers that the Department of Justice is focused more on prosecuting them than violent pro-abortion activists who have targeted pregnancy resource centers.
Last year, a network of pro-life pregnancy centers that had one of its offices vandalized multiple times filed a lawsuit against the activists responsible for the damage to the facility.
CompassCare filed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act complaint in federal court against pro-abortion activists Jennifer Page and Hannah Kamke in connection with the vandalism against its office in Amherst, New York. The pro-life nonprofit filed the suit after the DOJ declined to press charges.
"It is ridiculous that as pro-life citizens, we are forced to do the job of both the FBI and the DOJ," CompassCare CEO, the Rev. Jim Harden, said at the time. "The FBI refused to investigate, so we hired private investigators. The DOJ refuses to indict, so we brought FACE Act charges."
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
