70 Percent of Abortion-Related Violence Targets Pro-Life Groups Since Supreme Court Ruling: FBI Director

FBI Director Christopher Wray prepares to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 15, 2022. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Pro-life groups have been the victims of about 70 percent of investigations into abortion-related violence since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The FBI director made the revelation during a Nov. 17 hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, when he was questioned by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who raised concerns about how the Department of Justice (DOJ) might have “become politicized” with regards to pro-life issues.

“So there is a recent rise in high-profile FBI investigations of pro-life Americans, which raises the current concern that the FBI is weaponizing federal law enforcement,” Scott said, while pointing out how there have been numerous fire bombings, violent attacks, and acts of vandalism against churches, pro-life organizations, and crisis pregnancy centers since the leak of the Dobbs decision.

At least 95 Catholic churches, 75 pregnancy resources centers, and offices of pro-life groups have been attacked since May, when the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling was leaked, according to Wisconsin-based advocacy group CatholicVote.

In response to Scott’s concerns, Wray said his agency “is going about its work and doing the right thing in the right way.”

“My view—plainly expressed to all of our people, including in the context of abortion-related violence—is that I don’t care what side of the issue you’re on, you don’t get to engage in violence, and we are equal-opportunity when it comes to that,” Wray added.

Wray continued to say that much of the violence has been directed against pro-life groups.

“Now, we have quite a number of investigations, as we speak, into attacks or threats against pregnancy resource centers, faith-based organizations, and other pro-life organizations,” he continued. “And you might be interested to know that since the Dobbs Act decision, probably in the neighborhood of 70 percent of our abortion-related violence cases or threats cases are cases of violence or threats against … pro-life organizations.”

“And we’re going after that through our joint terrorism task forces, through our criminal authorities, FACE Act, and things like that. We have about 20 field offices involved in this,” Wray said. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act bars obstructing people from obtaining “reproductive health services,” including abortion.

The FBI director emphasized that his agency has taken these cases “very seriously.”

“I don’t care whether you’re motivated by pro-life views or pro-choice views. You don’t get to use violence to express it,” Wray said.

Wray also defended his agency, dismissing media reports that said that the FBI was only going after pro-life individuals.

“We don’t have the time for me to tell you how frustrated I sometimes get by some of the news reporting about our work and the misreporting of our work,” Wray said. “The circumspection that we display with regard to discussing our investigations is based on rules and practices that are important to people having confidence in the integrity of our work and go back decades, in multiple administrations.”

In October, U.S. prosecutors charged 11 pro-life activists with FACE Act violations from their alleged “blockade” of an abortion clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee in March 2021. Later in the same month, a pro-life activist from Pennsylvania was charged with violating the FACE Act for allegedly seeking to block access to a Washington, D.C. abortion clinic in October 2020.

One recent attack happened in mid-September, when the Mother and Unborn Baby Care pregnancy center in Southfield, Michigan was vandalized and spray painted with the words “If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you. Jane.”

Jane is a reference to Jane’s Revenge, a violent pro-abortion extremist group. The group began carrying out attacks on May 8, when it claimed responsibility for carrying out an arson attack against the headquarters of the pro-life group Wisconsin Family Action.

In September, Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) introduced the Protect Pregnancy Care Centers Act of 2022 (H.R.8926). If enacted, the bill would require the Biden administration to publicly disclose how it is handling the investigation and prosecution of pro-abortion activists who attack pregnancy resource centers and churches.

“My goal is to foster an environment where no woman feels like their only option is abortion,” Rogers said in a statement accompanying the bill. “I believe all extreme and hateful acts of violence should be condemned, which is why I’m helping lead this legislation to hold President Biden accountable for his failure to respond to this threat with the urgency it deserves.”