Military Training Calls Pro-Life Groups Terrorists While the DOJ Puts Them in Prison
July 18, 2024 | Washington, D.C.
by Tabitha Walter, Executive Director, Eagle Forum
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has been made aware of an Army training presentation that categorized pro-life individuals and organizations as “terrorist groups.” For over a year, military personnel at Fort Liberty in North Carolina were subject to a training presentation that contained a slide outlining the “extreme” actions of organizations like National Right to Life and Operation Rescue. Among the activities listed were sidewalk counseling, operating crisis centers, and purchasing “Choose Life” license plates. Clearly, the only extreme activity in this presentation was the bias.
Fort Liberty officials claim that the slides were not “vetted by the appropriate approval authorities” but did not give any details on who those authorities are or who was responsible for the material. HASC Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Subcommittee on Military Personnel Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN) drafted a letter to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth requesting answers. A portion of the letter stated:
It is crucial that our military maintains political neutrality and respect for diverse viewpoints within the bounds of the law. Regardless of any base commanders’ concern for protests from potential groups, the idea that such protected constitutional activities by lawful organizations qualifies them as terrorists is absurd. We urge the Army to immediately issue a correction to all servicemembers who received this briefing, to implement rules to ensure officials do not make similar claims in the Army’s name in the future, and to discipline those individuals responsible for spreading such false and divisive claims.
A total of 88 members of the House and Senate signed the letter. Representative Banks stated to Fox News:
For over a year, someone at Fort Liberty has been teaching our troops that pro-life Americans are terrorists, and the Biden Pentagon didn’t stop it until House Republicans and the public raised the alarm. I’m an Afghanistan war veteran, and it sickens me to see far-left radicals poisoning our military with this extremist hate. We must get woke activists out of our Armed Forces so that we have a military that’s focused on countering foreign terrorists overseas and not on targeting conservative Americans.
While this is only the latest incident of targeting pro-lifers, we have seen that attacking those who stand for the unborn has been a priority of the Biden administration for years. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has wielded the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act as a weapon. This law prohibits individuals from obstructing entrance to a reproductive health facility or religious institution. However, these charges have been heavy-handed on pro-lifers while turning a blind eye to serious violence from the Left.
In 2022, the Department of Justice charged 26 pro-life individuals with FACE Act violations. One of these was Mark Houck, a Catholic father of seven children, who pushed away a worker who was harassing his young son. The FBI raided his home in front of his family because of this act. He was eventually acquitted. Others haven’t been so lucky. Paula Paulette Harlow, a prayerful 75-year-old, was sentenced to two years in prison for blockading an abortion clinic entrance. When her husband asked for leniency due to age and health, the judge told Harlow to “make an effort to remain alive” since that was a “tenet of [her] religion.”
Since the Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade, 90 pregnancy centers and pro-life groups have been attacked while a whopping 434 Catholic churches have experienced violence. Only one attack, against a Florida pregnancy resource center that was spray painted, has been prosecuted.
The Biden administration has corrupted their power for far too long. In order to restore a DOJ that respects individual freedoms rather than silences those with differing views, we need to elect conservative majorities in the House and Senate and take back the White House. One way you can help elect conservatives across the nation is through Eagle Forum PAC. Check out our website to see who we have endorsed and how you can make a difference in this year’s elections!