The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is excellent news and a massive step towards a necessary protection of innocent life. There are many people across this country so enraged at the prospect of being held responsible for their actions that they are turning to violence. Pro-life communities all across the country fall victim to vandalism, arson, and even violence. The Religious Freedom Institute commissioned a former FBI counter-terrorism and intelligence expert to assess these threats. Here is what they found.
“These attacks are dangerous, not only for the victims, but for our nation,” said RFI President Tom Farr. “Pro-life congregations and organizations are animated by love. They serve mothers, their children, born and unborn, and their families. Violent attacks on pro-life churches, pregnancy resource centers, education and advocacy organizations, and religious schools should be met by outrage in the media and swift action by governments, including law enforcement agencies. Instead, responses have in too many cases been slow or indifferent. This phenomenon goes beyond disdain for pro-life Americans. It represents a threat to America’s religious freedom, pluralism, and democracy.”
Criminals have attacked at least 63 pro-life organizations, in 26 states and the District of Columbia, since the Dobbs decision was leaked on May 2, 2022. Malicious groups have also attacked 32 Catholic churches since the Dobbs leak, and in 17 of those cases revealed a pro-abortion motive in their graffiti or in the vandalizing of religious pro-life memorials and symbols. These acts are assaults on the inalienable right of religious freedom guaranteed to all Americans in the First Amendment.
“Too many law enforcement agencies and journalists are ignoring these crimes against pro-life institutions, a lack of concern consistent with their responses to attacks against Catholic churches over the past few years,” said Nathaniel Hurd, Director of RFI’s North America Action Team. “All Americans, religious or not, pro-life nor not, should condemn these assaults on our nation’s diversity and pluralism, and on the irresponsible indifference of federal and state governments.”
This post-Dobbs Threat Assessment is part of RFI’s ongoing, multi-year investigation into criminal attacks on religious institutions in the United States, and on the strikingly passive responses of government officials, law enforcement agencies, and the media. Since late May 2020, attacks have occurred against at least 174 Catholic targets in 38 states and the District of Columbia, including arson, desecration and defacement, property destruction, theft, and other state and federal crimes. RFI will publish a full investigative report on these attacks in 2023.
People across this country gather to volunteer their time and resources to protect innocent life and this is what they face. The fight for life is one of the most important battles of this age. Planned Parenthood killed a record breaking 383,460 children in 2021. So many lives cut short. Every ambition never realized, every wide eyed curiosity never explored, and every life snuffed out before he or she even felt the warmth of the sun on his or her skin is why we need to fight with all we have to protect the unborn from this nightmare.
“As it was in the days of Noah.”