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FBI says it is looking into attacks on pro-life centers as critics accuse bureau of ‘slow-walking’ justice

November 19, 2022 | | Print Article

During his testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted that in the months following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, an overwhelming 70% of abortion-related threats have been directed against pro-life centers and he insisted the bureau is investigating “quite a number” of such cases “as we speak.”

But the claim has sparked suspicion among many who claim the FBI has been weaponized against conservatives and is now “slow-walking” justice out of political concerns, according to Fox News Digital.

In an October 12 letter, 11 GOP senators and 26 Republican House members wrote to Wray to express their concern over “the continued politicization of The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”

“The recent rise in high-profile FBI investigations into pro-life Americans raises well-founded concerns that the FBI has amassed too much power and has become a partisan cudgel wielded by the Biden Administration at the behest of progressive activists against political opponents and dissenters,” the letter read.

“Overzealous prosecutions under the FACE [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances] Act weaponize the power of federal law enforcement against American citizens in what should firmly be state and local matters,” the lawmakers continued. “Further, these abuses of federal power against pro-life Americans based solely on their beliefs undermine the American people’s trust in the FBI.”

“This is particularly true since there have been no reports of FBI investigations or DOJ prosecutions in relation to the more than 72 pregnancy resource centers and 80 Catholic churches that have been attacked or vandalized since the Dobbs leak – heinous, violent, and organized crimes across state lines that are also subject to prosecution under the FACE Act,” the Congressmembers, led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), stated.

On the same day the letter was sent, the FBI finally contacted a pro-life pregnancy center in upstate New York, a long four months after it had been firebombed.

The Buffalo FBI field office announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the man who on June 7, tossed Molotov cocktails into an Amherst pro-life pregnancy center called CompassCare.


(Video: YouTube)

For the center’s CEO, Rev. Jim Harden, the timing of the proffered reward is suspicious.

Noting possible congressional oversight concerns, Harden believes the FBI’s sudden action in the case may be motivated by politics.

“There have been over 70 attacks just on pro-life pregnancy centers, to say nothing of other pro-life organizations and conservative churches,” Harden told Fox News Digital. “It tells me the FBI has limited resources and that their leadership is making a decision to deprioritize investigations of pro-life centers.”

“It is naive to think that the largest policing agency on the globe, with the best forensic technology known to man, does not know who is perpetrating these crimes,” he added.

When asked by Fox News Digital why the FBI is only now offering the $25,000 reward, five months after the attack occurred, the bureau danced around the question.

“In general, FBI field offices conduct all logical investigative steps during the course of the investigation which can include offering a reward for information,” the FBI replied in an email. “In this case, FBI Buffalo is seeking the public’s help to identify the individuals responsible for the arson of the CompassCare Pregnancy Services Center and is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for the arson.”

And according to the agency, CompassCare isn’t the only one benefitting from the FBI’s attention.

“The FBI is investigating a series of attacks and threats targeting pregnancy resource centers, faith-based organizations, and reproductive health clinics across the country, as well as to judicial buildings, including the US Supreme Court,” the bureau assured the outlet.

Harden isn’t so sure.

“The FBI has slow-walked justice specifically because they’ve been politicized,” he said.

“Compare that to how long it took a federal law enforcement joint task force to review the video surveillance of a Planned Parenthood attempted arson attack on July 31 in Kalamazoo, Michigan,” he continued. “They did it instantaneously, and they had somebody arrested in four days. Good. There is no place in a civilized society for arson, for any kind of violence against people you might disagree with. Here we are five months out now.”

 

During his Thursday testimony, Wray told senators, “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 said the bureau is going after the threats made against pro-life centers “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, and so, we take it very seriously,” the director said. “And again, 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.”

 

Melissa Fine
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