A North Carolina military installation identified pro-life advocates as terrorists in an anti-terrorism training presentation for at least seven years before the Army removed the slides last week following a Republican outcry.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in a letter to Sen. Ted Budd, North Carolina Republican, the slideshow “has been used for at least the last seven years by the Directorate of Emergency Services at Fort Liberty to train Soldiers as they prepare to take on installation access control duties.”
“I want to make clear that these slides do not represent the official policy or views of the U.S. Army and pre-date Army Directive 2024-7 (Handling Protest, Extremist, and Criminal Gang Activities),” Ms. Wormuth said in the letter dated Tuesday.
The slide posted on X last week by independent journalist Sam Shoemate showed the logos of two pro-life organizations, the National Right to Life Committee and Operation Rescue, and a New York “Choose Life” license plate under the heading of “Terrorist Groups.”
The bullet points on the anti-terrorism training titled “Terror Awareness” include “Oppose Row [sic] v Wade” and “Bombings of Clinics.”
Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, announced July 11 that the slides had been pulled, saying that they were “not vetted” and “do not reflect the views of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, the U.S. Army or the Department of Defense.”
“Senior Army leaders did not direct these slides to be used in training, nor were they aware of their use until media reporting last week,” Ms. Wormuth said. “These slides will no longer be used to train Soldiers at Fort Liberty.”
Mr. Budd, who blasted the targeting of pro-life groups in a July 12 letter signed by 87 House and Senate Republicans, called the slide’s multi-year use “outrageous and unacceptable.”
“In response to our letter, the Army Secretary disclosed that the training slides labeling pro-life Americans as terrorists have been used for at least 7 years,” Mr. Budd wrote on X. “Totally outrageous and unacceptable.”
He said the Army “must fully renounce this attack on pro-life Americans and conduct a full investigation to ensure similar materials aren’t being used at other installations.”
In response to our letter, the Army Secretary disclosed that the training slides labeling pro-life Americans as terrorists have been used for at least 7 years.
— Senator Ted Budd (@SenTedBuddNC) July 18, 2024
Totally outrageous and unacceptable.
The Army must fully renounce this attack on pro-life Americans and conduct a full… pic.twitter.com/XWnzOyJ07p
Ms. Wormuth said the XVIII Airborne Corps leadership has initiated “an Army Regulation 15-6 investigation to collect all the facts and determine appropriate next steps.”
In separate statements, National Right to Life and Operation Rescue condemned the slides and stressed that they reject violence in pro-life advocacy.
“The person who created the slide was obviously uninformed and could not even manage to correctly spell the word Roe,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman in a July 12 statement on the group’s website.
A Fort Liberty spokesperson told WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina, that the presentations typically are held every two to three weeks with about 40 people at each training session.
Attacks on U.S. abortion clinics and providers date to the 1970s, although it’s not clear why soldiers guarding entry points at Fort Liberty would need training in combating anti-abortion extremism.
“Pro-life organizations have absolutely nothing to do with those responsibilities,” Mr. Newman said. “Therefore, the only perceived purpose for disparaging pro-life organizations in such a training would be to satisfy a political agenda and indoctrinate our soldiers.”
The National Abortion Federation said that since 1977, “there have been 11 murders, 42 bombings, 200 arsons, 531 assaults, 492 clinic invasions, 375 burglaries, and thousands of other incidents of criminal activities directed at patients, providers, and volunteers.”
The irony is that the most recent wave of abortion-related extremism has been directed at the pro-life movement.
At least 90 pro-life offices and pregnancy centers and 269 Catholic churches have been attacked since the Supreme Court’s opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked in May 2022.
The incidents include arson, smashed windows, beheaded religious statues and pro-choice graffiti, according to the CatholicVote tracker.
Jane’s Revenge, a militant pro-choice group, has claimed credit for some of the attacks, including firebombings in New York, Oregon and Wisconsin.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.