Asheville pregnancy center reacts to Jane's Revenge's threat of militant behavior
Radical abortionist group pledges violence after Roe overturned; Kristi Brown joins 'The Story' with response.
A network of pro-life pregnancy centers in New York hired private investigators to probe a firebomb attack against a facility last June after what they describe as an inadequate response from federal law enforcement.
"They've been responsive, but what they've done we don't know," Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society, told Fox News Digital of the FBI.
CompassCare, which has multiple pro-life pregnancy centers in upstate New York, announced last week that it was joining forces with the society, a nonprofit law firm, to hire private investigators to find those behind the incident at their Buffalo office last summer.
Vandals reportedly smashed windows and lit fires in the building's reception room and nurses’ office, then defaced the building with "Jane was here" graffiti, an apparent reference to the radical pro-abortion group Jane's Revenge.
The pro-life pregnancy center was able to rebuild quickly, but the individuals responsible have not been apprehended.
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Vandals defaced CompassCare with "Jane was here" graffiti, an apparent reference to the radical pro-abortion group Jane's Revenge. (CompassCare)
'Under attack'
Brejcha, who told Fox News Digital that his own home was targeted last July by "40 to 50 masked, black-clad thugs," said the investigation has expanded to include all 78 of the attacks against pro-life facilities in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned last year.
"Along with CompassCare and others, we're looking to investigate connections here," the lawyer explained. "We have security video of attackers. We have license plates. We're pursuing the kind of investigation that lawyers pursue when they're looking to achieve justice on behalf of their clients, civil and criminal. So we're not sitting on our hands just writing letters to the editor about it."
Brejcha said they hope to reveal "some of the folks that are behind this," and he is optimistic that they will succeed.
"We think, frankly, that we're going to find the people that need to be talked to and investigated," he said. "We'll work with the FBI and local law enforcement, but we're not going to simply stop with that. We want to push the matter and press it to get some concrete results."
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An interior view of the damage done at the CompassCare facility in Buffalo, New York. (CompassCare)
Brejcha noted that while they have been working with federal law enforcement, they had to sue to get back surveillance video of the Buffalo attack that they handed over to authorities. He believes the Department of Justice has been politicized.
"I think the fact that they appointed pro-abortion zealots to head up the special unit within the Department of Justice means that their focus and their energies are in that direction," he said. "And justice is blind here in a different sense: it's blind only in one direction. In the other direction, it's actively working to perpetrate injustice against the pro-life movement, to intimidate and shut them down. I think that's pretty clear."
"We don't mean to be critical of the rank-and-file FBI," Brejcha said. "We depend on them for our security. They helped warn us of the forthcoming attack on our home. They were monitoring the internet. But beyond monitoring, we'd like to see some affirmative action here to bring these people to justice. We haven't seen it yet."
"You have a whole social movement targeted and under attack, and some steps must be taken to remedy that," he added.
The FBI told Fox News Digital they are continuing to investigate the attacks against pregnancy resource centers. (iStock)
"The FBI continues to investigate 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 U.S. Supreme Court," the FBI told Fox News Digital in a statement.
"In general, FBI field offices conduct all logical investigative steps during the course of the investigation which can include offering a reward for information. 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," the FBI said.
‘Where’s the manhunt?’
Despite the FBI offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those who attacked their facility, CompassCare CEO Jim Harden expressed skepticism about the federal government's efforts to bring them to justice.
Harden said his path to the pro-life movement began when he was born with a contraceptive device wrapped around his wrist at the hands of "a renowned abortionist" in Milwaukee. His parents later converted to Christianity, and he would go on to study for the ministry.
"It's hard to know whether the FBI agents are being sincere when they say, 'I'm a Catholic, and I really want to see these criminals brought to justice,'" Harden told Fox News Digital. "It only happened after they got tremendous pressure from the media and from politicians, senators and congressmen included."
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The front windows of the CompassCare office in Buffalo, New York, were smashed out last June. (CompassCare)
"What it appears to us is that they have made decisions about how they're allocating investigative resources, and they have chosen not to allocate," he added. "You've got 78 bona fide violations of the FACE Act on pro-life organizations specifically targeting them. We know they're hate crimes. They fit that definition. Where's the manhunt?"
Harden was not at liberty to discuss the specifics of what they have uncovered in their investigation, but said the manhunt should be global in scale, given the "disconcerting things" he said they have found out already.
CompassCare, which has pro-life pregnancy centers throughout upstate New York, announced last week that it was joining forces with the Thomas More Society. (CompassCare)
"It does look like that this is not just a grassroots pro-abortion movement," he said. "It seems to be much more organized." He said evidence suggests ties to anarchist and transgender movements, as well as potential links to Europe.
"My speculation is that if they make an arrest, they'll be able to draw a straight line between the pro-abortion terrorist group Jane's Revenge and government bad actors, including federal law enforcement, the DOJ and pro-abortion politicians in charge of the Democratic Party," Harden said.
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"There's some very, very disconcerting things that are going on, and the fact that the FBI has not made any arrests is only shame on them," he added.
