Republicans demand answers after leaked Army briefing labels pro-lifers ‘terrorists’

A participant in the OneLife rally in Los Angeles on Jan. 23, 2016. / Credit: Courtesy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 16, 2024 / 17:20 pm (CNA).

More than 100 Senate and House Republicans are demanding answers after a leaked photo of an Army briefing at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, showed a slide labeling pro-life activity and groups as potential terrorist threats.

“The American people deserve to be assured that these slides truly do not reflect the Army’s views, that a full investigation will be conducted, and that any offending employees will be properly held accountable. Finally, we must be assured that similar materials are not being utilized at other installations across the Army,” said one letter, signed by 87 Senate and House Republicans.

Another letter, issued by members of the House Armed Services Committee, which is tasked with oversight of the Department of Defense, demanded answers from Army Secretary Christine Wormuth by July 25.

“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,” the letter said.

What did the slide say?

The slide was being used to train the installation’s security personnel as recently as last week. It specifically labeled two pro-life organizations, National Right to Life and Operation Rescue, as terrorist groups.

A photograph of the slide was leaked to social media last week and is said to have been in use at Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, which is one of the largest military installations in the world and home of the U.S. Army’s Airborne and Special Operations Forces.

The training material also implied that opposition to Roe v. Wade and pro-life advocacy such as sidewalk counseling, demonstrations, and crisis pregnancy center counseling also constitute terrorist activity. The slide further suggested that vehicles with “Choose Life” license plates, which are approved in 34 states and the District of Columbia, are also indicative of a terrorist threat.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Fort Liberty disavowed the slide and said that the training material was “not vetted by the appropriate authorities” and did not reflect the views of the Army or Defense Department.

The installation said that the slides had been developed by a “local garrison employee” and promised that said material “will no longer be used.”

Republicans demand answers

The letter from the House Armed Services Committee members urged Army leadership to “immediately” issue a correction to all service members who received the briefing, discipline those responsible for the briefing, and implement new rules ensuring officials do not make such claims in the Army’s name in the future.

Critically, the letter demands the Army disclose how long the material had been used and to confirm whether any other training materials labeling pro-lifers as terrorists have or are being used on any other installations.

“Training the installation gate guards to ensure that servicemembers and their families who have pro-life license plates should be considered suspicious and possible terroristic threats to the installation, is not only absurd but dangerous,” the letter said. “Young soldiers trained to treat certain state-issued license plates as a terrorist threat heightens the risk that they will be involved in a needlessly confrontational situation with otherwise permissible drivers accessing Fort Liberty. Disturbingly, it also requires soldiers at the gate to profile conservatives for their political leanings.”

An effort to vilify pro-life people

Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, told CNA that she was shocked to see the military training slides labeling her group a terrorist organization.

“We don’t do violence,” she said.

Tobias believes the slides are indicative of a wider atmosphere created by the Biden administration to “vilify pro-life people as anti-women bigots.”  

Though her group’s logo was on the slide, Tobias thinks that it is pregnancy resource centers that are the primary targets of pro-abortion ire from both the government and nongovernment forces.

She pointed out the string of attacks against pro-life pregnancy centers that has been ongoing since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022 as well as government efforts, such as in a state-sanctioned program to dissuade people from going to pregnancy resource centers in Massachusetts.

“They are trying to marginalize pro-life people, pro-life activities as un-American,” she said.