House Republicans are calling on the Department of Justice to investigate recent nationwide attacks on pro-life organizations as acts of domestic terrorism.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, 122 lawmakers cited 14 attacks against pregnancy centers, pro-life advocacy organizations and churches across nine states and the District of Columbia since early May following the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
“U.S. Supreme Court justices and pro-life advocates have experienced heightened threats and violence,” wrote the GOP lawmakers, who were led by Reps. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Scott C. Franklin of Florida and Claudia Tenney of New York.
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The lawmakers also noted that a Department of Homeland Security memo issued in May anticipated further violence upon the release of the Dobbs opinion expected by the end of June.
“With this warning made clear, the Department of Justice must act swiftly to investigate and prosecute recent domestic terrorist attacks against pro-life organizations and dissuade future perpetrators of such violence,” they wrote. “These attacks have the intended effect of chilling the free exercise of religion and speech, undermining the constitutional rights of Americans.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Biden has prioritized White supremacists in the fight against domestic terrorism, which his administration says “emerges from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists and networks whose racial, ethnic, or religious hatred leads them towards violence.”
The Department of Homeland Security deemed the threat of “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” a “national threat priority.” In January, the Justice Department announced the formation of a specialized unit to combat domestic terrorism, saying FBI investigations into violent extremism have more than doubled since March 2020.
Republicans have been skeptical of the administration’s focus on domestic terrorism, which they say is a ploy to target Democrats’ political opponents.
Last month, the House passed a measure to create domestic terrorism units in the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department in a near party-line vote. It was part of the Democrats’ renewed push against domestic terrorism and racist extremism in the wake of a mass shooting at a grocery store in a Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York.
Senate Republicans blocked the final passage of the bill.
In their letter Wednesday, the Republican lawmakers say the attacks against the abortion facilities meet the threshold to be investigated as acts of terrorism.
“The department has a clear duty to pursue these recent attacks as instances of domestic terrorism, and it is the responsibility of the National Security Division to protect the United States from threats to our national security by seeking justice through law,” they wrote.
