Army apologizes for training classifying pro-life organizations as terrorist groups

The U.S. Secretary of the Army has apologized for an antiterrorism slide show classifying pro-life organizations as terrorists after an investigation revealed that the use of such language to refer to opponents of abortion was not a one-time event despite the Biden administration's assertions to the contrary. 

In a letter published last Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll apologized to attorneys with the American Center for Law and Justice for the characterization of Operation Rescue, National Right to Life and other pro-life groups as terrorist organizations at an Army antiterrorism and protection training during the Biden administration at Fort Bragg, formerly known as Fort Liberty.

"This mischaracterization was not only inaccurate but also deeply inappropriate," Driscoll said. "Equally concerning was the previous Administration's inadequate response to this serious incident.  Its failure to provide full transparency or take responsibility for such a grievous error is wholly unacceptable." 

Driscoll assured that the Army does not view pro-life advocacy organizations as terrorist groups and rejected the premise that "pro-life beliefs or state-issued pro-life license plates" are "indicators of terrorism."

The secretary said he reviewed all Army training materials and offered his "sincerest apology" to the organizations "negatively impacted by the false characterization of all pro-life organizations made by this training."

"I am firmly committed to rigorous oversight of all Army training materials to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future," he vowed. 

Driscoll's letter comes more than a year after a slide show from a training session at Fort Bragg received widespread attention and condemnation for including National Right to Life and Operation Rescue, along with an image of a license plate reading "choose life," on a slide containing examples of "Terrorist Groups."

The military base responded to the backlash at the time by insisting that the training slideshow did not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Defense or the Army base and was not properly vetted beforehand. Representatives of the fort promised more oversight of future presentations. The response suggested that the characterization of pro-life groups as terrorist organizations was an isolated incident. 

However, Freedom of Information Act information secured by the American Center for Law and Justice on behalf of Operation Rescue suggests that trainings have characterized pro-life groups as terrorist organizations as early as 2011. 

"In other words, the cleanup has gone much deeper than just what happened at Fort Bragg," ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekewlow said. "And that's the silver lining here: The corrupted training was brought to light, and after relentless determination, not only is it being halted where it happened, but now it is being addressed across the entire Army."

Driscoll's letter was a response to a letter the ACLJ sent to the Secretary of the Army and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in April 2025, requesting an apology, clarification that pro-life organizations are not terrorist organizations, and additional records pertaining to the ongoing investigation into the past characterization of pro-life organizations.