A pro-life group is considering taking legal action after its members were placed on a database that tracks extremists within the United States.
Students for Life of America, or “SFLA,” was named in a University of Maryland project called the “Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States” or “PIRUS.”
The database reportedly tracks “over 3,500 violent and non-violent extremists who adhere to far-right, far-left, Islamist, or single-issue ideologies in the United States covering 1948-2022.”
Students for Life said it was “surprised” to find the group’s name on the database’s list.
“In a guilt by association kind of tar-and-feathering, the peaceful, pro-life organization is placed in a list of some who seem truly bad actors, though a fact check might be in order given the bias of the source. Also missing were groups like Jane’s Revenge, threatening violence – including gun violence AGAINST Students for Life of America – known for the phrase, “IF ABORTIONS AREN’T SAFE, YOU’RE NOT EITHER,”” the groups website states.
“Homeland security missed that one. And did they forget Planned Parenthood? When it comes to “mass casualty” offenders, it’s hard to beat Planned Parenthood for death on a Soviet-Union-Under-Stalin scale.”
Earlier this month, SFLA responded by sending a cease-and-desist letter to START, demanding it remove the group from the list “immediately.”
“Inclusion of SFLA on this terrorist and extremist list has conveyed to the world that SFLA should be treated as a dangerous threat. This unduly stigmatizes SFLA, which is not a terrorist or extremist group,” the legal letter shared with Fox News Digital read.
A spokesperson for START said it could not confirm the criminal cases affiliated with SFLA but claimed the crimes were tied to activism, not terrorism.
“The PIRUS database helps us understand crimes that are motivated by ideology. Crimes are not limited to any one political stance or belief, and the database reflects actions that are tracked in the U.S. criminal justice system. A number of individuals – whose identities are not included – were removed as part of a regularly scheduled update on April 8, after logging updated court information,” the spokesperson said.
