President Joe Biden's Administration reportedly included pro-life activists in the list of "Domestic Violent Extremists" found in the March 1, 2021 report entitled "Domestic Violent Extremism Poses Heightened Threat In 2021" by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Life News said the report called pro-life people as "violent". While the Christian Post said it classified both pro-abortion and pro-life activists under the list of domestic violent extremist groups.
According to the report's Executive Summary, the Department of National Intelligence assessed what domestic violent extremists are and classified them accordingly. Domestic violent extremists (DVEs) are accordingly "motivated by a range of ideologies and galvanized by recent political and societal events in the United States pose an elevated threat to the Homeland in 2021."
It cited as examples the incident in the U.S. Capitol last January 6 "conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic," and "conspiracy theories" that promote violence.
"For the purposes of this assessment, the IC defines a DVE as an individual based and operating primarily in the United States without direction or inspiration from a foreign terrorist group or other foreign power and who seeks to further political or social goals wholly or in part through unlawful acts of force or violence," the report said.
"This assessment does not evaluate the actions of individuals engaged solely in activities protected by the First Amendment or other rights secured by the Constitution of the United States," it clarified.
As to categories, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence identified five main classifications of DVEs. These are "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists," "anti-government/anti-authority violent extremists," "animal rights/environmental violent extremists," abortion-related violent extremists," and "all other domestic terrorism threats."
The report sub-classified "anti-government/anti-authority violent extremists" as "militia violent extremists," "anarchist violent extremists," and "sovereign citizen violent extremists."
The report defined "abortion-related violent extremists" as "DVEs with ideological agendas in support of pro-life or pro-choice beliefs."
Life News said the report was released as a warning that the current year could be one of American violent extremism. The media outlet cited a similar incident during former President Barack Obama's administration where pro-lifers were described as "domestic terrorists" through a Department of Homeland Security report released in 2012.
"Pro-life advocates are peaceful, and pro-life organizations condemn violence and other illegal activities just as they condemn the legal violence of abortion against unborn babies. Often, pro-lifers are targets of harassment, threats and violence," Life News stressed.
Life News revealed that in 2019 and 2020 alone, there have been 200 incidents of violence against pro-life groups and cited one as the bomb threat on the Minnesota 40 Days For Life event.
The Christian Post pointed out that pro-life activists are "generally" peaceful but did not deny instances where violence was "committed against abortion providers, advocates, and clinics." The Christian Post cited several instances on the matter such as the case of Robert Dear in 2015 where he opened fired on a Colorado Planned Parenthood branch that injured several people and left three people dead.
