Pro-life groups slap back at 'terrorist' designation from Fort Liberty

A U.S. Department of Defense briefing given July 10 at Fort Liberty in North Carolina described two prominent pro-life organizations as “terrorist groups,” a characterization that brought swift rebuke from national and local pro-life leaders.

A slide from the anti-terrorism awareness briefing was posted on social media late on July 10 by DOD whistleblower Samuel Shoemate, who received it from a U.S. Army soldier who was in the training meeting at Fort Liberty, formerly known as Fort Bragg. The slide has garnered 1.5 million views on X.

“The briefing was simply a class on how to be a gate guard and what to look for when on duty,” the Army soldier told Blaze News on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “Gate guard duty is something all of us have to do from time to time. It was presented by a DOD civilian, not an anti-terrorism officer.”

The offending slide was titled “Terrorist Groups” and included the logos of National Right to Life and Operation Rescue. It described them as pro-life but also said they “oppose Row [sic] v. Wade” and are tied to “bombings of clinics” and “attempted murders.”

It also showed an image of a “Choose Life” license plate from New York. Choose Life license plates are available in a variety of designs in 33 states and the District of Columbia, according to Choose Life America Inc. The plates have raised more than $29 million for crisis pregnancy centers.

The pro-life slide came directly after a section on ISIS, the Islamic State jihadist terror group responsible for mass shootings and suicide bombings around the globe. ISIS was headed for nearly a decade by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who blew himself up in 2019 as U.S. forces moved in on him in Syria.

A briefing given to soldiers at Fort Liberty in North Carolina described pro-life organizations as "terrorist groups."Photo by Samuel Shoemate, used with permission

“It’s pretty unsettling that they’d try and conflate pro-life groups to the level of ISIS, but this is the kind of thing we now see all the time,” the Fort Liberty soldier told Blaze News.

“We’re regularly given briefings that include stuff like, ‘If your co-workers are expressing support for the Second Amendment, keep an eye on them. They could be a danger,’” he said.

Shoemate said he fears using terrorism designations with pro-life groups and others could increase the chances of military forces one day being used against conservative Americans.

“I am fully tinfoil-hatted on the idea that at some point our military will be turned against the American people, and I don't mind that being used as a quote,” he said. “I truly believe — at some point — we're getting to that. And the idea behind that is that we have to purge constitutionally-minded individuals from the military.”

Shoemate said he is confident the material in the slide was not the work of just one individual.

“Nobody’s trying to do anything underhanded and sneak stuff into slideshows, because they would get crushed by their command,” he said. “So there’s a very high likelihood — and I say this with great confidence — that the O-6 garrison commander, or at least a deputy, knew about this and approved the slideshow.”

'It’s not extreme to try to save children, and yet this is their rhetorical game.'

Army officials at Fort Liberty quickly distanced themselves from the presentation and its characterization of pro-lifers as terrorists.

“After conducting a commander’s inquiry, we determined that the slides presented on social media were not vetted by the appropriate approval authorities,” read a statement posted by Fort Liberty on X, “and do not reflect the views of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, the U.S. Army or the Department of Defense.”

The training presentation was developed by “a local garrison employee,” the statement read, and “these slides will no longer be used and all future training products will be reviewed to ensure they align with the current DoD anti-terrorism guidance.”

Shoemate said this type of ideological information is increasingly being pushed in military service academies and institutions of higher learning.

“It's an ideology. It is this idea to push through through all outlets in the American purview this idea that anything right of center — which they call, of course, extreme right-wing — is very frowned upon in the military now,” Shoemate said. “One of my favorites that we got years ago was from an older brigade commander out of Fort Benning who told a roomful of company commanders that references to the Constitution are a dog whistle for white supremacy.”

The presentation brought immediate condemnation from National Right to Life, which called it “deeply offensive” and contrasted it with the Biden administration’s support for unlimited abortion.

“In a presentation that is deeply offensive to pro-life Americans across the nation, Fort Liberty promoted outright lies about National Right to Life in a demonstration of lazy scholarship,” NRL president Carol Tobias said in a statement. “In our over 50-year history, National Right to Life has always, consistently, and unequivocally condemned violence against anyone.”

'The DOD has pegged us as domestic terrorists for a long time.'

Tobias questioned “how a license plate that raises funds for pregnancy resource centers could be construed as a symbol of terrorism.”

“Only under the Biden administration can peaceful law-abiding citizens and their peaceful activities be considered ‘terrorism,’” Tobias said. “The Biden administration promotes the deaths of preborn babies and advocates for unlimited abortion, but peaceful pro-life Americans are labeled ‘terrorists.’”

Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the type of language used in government training materials is meant to chill speech and discourage people from going to abortion clinics and peacefully praying for unborn babies and their mothers.

“It’s not extreme to try to save children,” Pavone said, “and yet this is their rhetorical game.”

The DOD has a history of besmirching pro-life groups, according to Dan Miller, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin near Milwaukee.

“The DOD has pegged us as domestic terrorists for a long time,” Miller told Blaze News. “Pro-lifers in general have been listed as domestic terrorists by the Obama administration. There was a small blip with [President Donald] Trump in there, but now with [President Joe] Biden, they’re back to the same old game.”

The characterization of these groups as terrorists is the latest in a pattern of attacks on conservative and religious groups that oppose abortion and defend the lives of unborn children.

The U.S. Department of Justice has aggressively indicted and pursued sidewalk counselors and pro-life volunteers for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

On May 31, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C., sentenced 75-year-old Paulette Harlow of Kingston, Massachusetts, to two years in prison for allegedly conspiring to blockade a D.C. abortion clinic in October 2020. Harlow was the 10th pro-life defendant sentenced in the case.

Dan Miller (left), director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, stands outside the Affiliated Medical Services abortion clinic in Milwaukee.Photo by Dan Miller, used with permission

Miller said pro-life groups are about saving lives, not taking them, and they don’t condone or use violence.

“It’s tried-and-true civil disobedience,” he said. “Mahatma Gandhi did it. Martin Luther King did it. The pro-life movement did it up to a point, up until [President Bill] Clinton established the FACE Act to basically crush the rescue movement.”

The FACE Act makes it a federal crime to use force, the threat of force, or physical obstruction to block access to abortion centers. Blocking entrances to abortion mills has occurred, although protests are more likely to consist of volunteers praying outside the buildings or trying to counsel women walking into the clinics.

Pennsylvania pro-life advocate Mark Houck was acquitted by a federal jury in January 2023 after he was charged with a FACE Act violation for shoving a “clinic escort” who he said was verbally harassing his son outside a Planned Parenthood clinic on Oct. 13, 2021. He faced up to 11 years in prison if he had been convicted.

Shoemate, a retired Army chief warrant officer, said these materials could have impacts beyond the spread of left-wing talking points.

“What alarmed me the most is not only that they decided to throw down on the National Right to Life — which is absolutely ridiculous — but the real issue is the license plate they threw on [the slide], which is a vanity plate that many pro-life people put on their car,” Shoemate said.

“I can speculate here and say, I got a mom and she's driving on post with this [pro-life] vanity plate on the front of her car and gets pulled over and harassed because some unaware E-3 or E-4 is working the gate says, ‘I was told that this is a terrorist threat.’”