On May 8, America First Legal released internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request regarding so-called domestic terrorism. According to America First Legal, “An internal memo dated January 29, 2021, just eight days after Joe Biden was sworn in as President, reveals a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ game-like memo for individuals to make ‘real-life decisions’ based on ‘radicalization’ scenarios with various fictitious characters.”
One of the “radicalization suspect” characters is “Ann,” a “middle-aged pro-life advocate.”
Ann is described as having “always been religious” but as having recently “become increasingly devout.” She is “active in several church groups,” and “[w]hile she has always been protective of her four kids, she has become increasingly more concerned about the welfare of other children[,] including the unborn.”
The implication is that “devout” religious belief and “concern” about preborn children is somehow a marker of potentially violent behavior.
But this is not an idea with roots in reality. In the wake of the leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court decision which overturned Roe v. Wade, a massive wave of pro-abortion violence engulfed the nation. Even the current director of the FBI, Cristopher Wray, admitted that 70% of abortion-related violence since the Dobbs leak has been perpetrated by pro-abortion actors.
And yet, in spite of this, the Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has stepped up prosecutions of pro-lifers for alleged violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which was designed to protect access to abortion facilities but also protects houses of worship and pregnancy resource centers. Twenty-six pro-life activists were indicted for alleged FACE violations in 2022 alone, while only six alleged perpetrators of pro-abortion violence have been arrested since the Dobbs leak.
On May 16, the House Judiciary Committee met to revisit the implications of the FACE Act and discuss whether the Biden administration’s DOJ has weaponized the FACE Act against pro-life activists.
