The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is demanding that the U.S. Army apologize for labeling pro-life organizations as “terrorist” groups in a slide featured during a briefing.
Operation Rescue was a pro-life group considered to be a terrorist entity during an anti-terrorism briefing at Fort Liberty, formerly called Fort Bragg.
“We demand that the Army immediately, publicly recognize that none of the listed pro-life organizations on these materials, including specifically our client by name, constitute terrorist organizations,” the ACLJ wrote in a letter to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth/
Although Wormuth acknowledged that groups such as Right to Life and PETA are not terrorists, she “did not address whether the other listed non-profit groups on the slides, such as specifically our client, are considered terrorist groups by the Army or not.”
The slide labeling pro-life groups as terrorists was used for at least seven years, the letter noted.
“Our demand is a simple one: Apologize and acknowledge in writing, using clear and direct language approved by us, that not a single organization named in the aforementioned materials is considered a domestic terrorist organization by the United States Army, including by name our client, Operation Rescue,” the ACLJ added. “It must express an assurance that such baseless labeling and training will not reoccur absent lawfully sound justification, describe steps taken to ensure the same, and provide information regarding when and where these training materials have been used in other Army installations. Without this, the injury, uncertainty, threat, stigma, and First Amendment chilling of being identified as a terrorist organization remains.”
In an article explaining the letter, the ACLJ described that the “idea that those who stand for the sanctity of life – a fundamental tenet of many faiths and a constitutionally protected belief – could be equated with terrorists is not only factually incorrect but also represents a dangerous conflation of peaceful advocacy with violent extremism.”
The group explained that the situation is “reminiscent of past attempts by government entities to stigmatize and marginalize conservative and Christian viewpoints.”
