Years ago, Randall Terry and Troy Newman were brothers in arms in the struggle against legal abortion.

“Troy was my son in the movement,” said Terry, 50, a one-time used car salesman from upstate New York who founded Operation Rescue in 1986. Terry rose to fame leading clinic blockades until lawsuits, jail terms and, finally, a 1998 legal settlement forced him to abandon his militant tactics, and he faded from the forefront of the struggle.

Newman, 43, meanwhile, was an up-and-coming activist in San Diego and a spokesman for Operation Rescue there. He admired Terry’s energy, charisma and rhetoric.

“Randall was the first guy to say, ‘If abortion is murder, then act like it,’ “ said Newman, who became president of Operation Rescue West in 1999. “A lot of us concur that God used him at a certain time for certain projects. For a time.”

But today, the two abortion foes are locked in an increasingly nasty battle over ownership of the trademark “Operation Rescue.”

Terry has called his former protege a weasel. Newman has branded Terry a charlatan.

Operation Rescue, among the first to apply civil disobedience to the abortion debate, has had a tangled history, with numerous incarnations and what some say is questionable political relevance today.

In July a who’s who of anti-abortion leaders convened a conference call they say drew more than 35,000 listeners to discuss their opposition to President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul plans, which they fear will include taxpayer-funded abortions. Operation Rescue was nowhere to be found on the participants list.

“Operation Rescue is largely a blast from the past and fairly marginalized in the pro-life movement now,” said Marvin Olasky, editor of The World, a Christian magazine.

“About 20 years go, the Operation Rescue activities were probably creating more support for abortion overall, and as the pro-life movement recognized that, the emphasis became one of offering compassionate help to women in a crisis,” Olasky said.

Clearly, though, the name, which Newman trademarked in 2006, is worth fighting for:

Whoever controls “Operation Rescue” benefits from its unquestionable ability to raise money from those who oppose abortion.

“Why does Troy need my name? What does he get from stealing another man’s heritage? Money and media,” Terry said from Falls Church, Va. He moved to the Washington, D.C., area from Florida last year in an effort to re-establish himself as a leader in the anti-abortion fight, which has heated up with Democrats in control of the White House and Congress.

Newman, for his part, has accused Terry of being a dilettante and financial failure who hopes to recapture Operation Rescue because it is “the goose that’s laid the golden egg.”

“Randall is articulate and convincing,” Newman said from Wichita, Kan. “But so are used car salesmen and cult leaders. He is not a true believer but a charlatan and a manipulator. … He shows up at a national event, makes a flamboyant speech, gets everyone within earshot rattled and then passes the collection plate and moves on.”

Newman says Terry voluntarily walked away from Operation Rescue when he mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 1998, then went on to other careers and causes.

Terry insists just the opposite.

“I never stopped using the name,” Terry said. “I have been arrested more than 50 times, spent over a year in jail, lost my home, lost my life savings all because of my fight. Why would I let a newcomer with no scars and no history steal my name?”

Terry alleges that Newman obtained a trademark fraudulently. He said Newman’s use deceives the public and that Newman receives donations meant for Terry.

Some anti-abortion activists have tried to prompt Terry and Newman to meet with a mediator, but so far the efforts have failed.