Network of European anti-abortion activists seek to replicate US movement

The ultra-Christian, anti-abortion, and far-right network is allegedly seeking to replicate anti-choice efforts in the US

A network of ultra-Christian, anti-abortion and far-right organisations is building momentum in its quest to influence abortion policy in Europe. Picture: Andrew Harnik/AP

A network of ultra-Christian, anti-abortion, and far-right organisations is building momentum in its quest to influence abortion policy in Europe as the US supreme court considers  striking down Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalised the procedure in America.

Elements of the network originally came together under the name Agenda Europe, holding yearly summits across the continent between 2013 until at least 2018, by which time it had grown to comprise 300 participants, including politicians and Vatican diplomats.

Eroding rights

The aim of the group was to “restore the natural order” by devising ways to gradually erode abortion rights, gay rights, and policies on combating violence against women, as well as to reduce access to contraceptives.

Organisers behind Agenda Europe summits included Terrence McKeegan, a former legal adviser to the Holy See’s mission to the UN in New York; and Gudrun Kugler, a Catholic theologian, member of the Austrian parliament, and human rights spokesperson for the Austrian People’s party.

“It is a rather loose network that brought together all the different groups — mostly from around Europe — that identify themselves as pro-life or pro-family, so anti-abortion or anti-LGBT rights,” said Neil Datta, secretary of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, which conducted an inquiry into the network and shared documents detailing the group’s aims, meeting programmes, and participants.

You can see they started out trying to find their relevance and by the third meeting they were actually coming up with proactive ideas about how to roll back human rights in sexuality and reproduction

Today, people connected to Agenda Europe are linked to the Political Network of Values (PNfV), a global platform with strikingly similar values that sprung up as the former’s visibility appeared to diminish.

Transatlantic summit

PNfV is hosting its fourth transatlantic summit — which includes Kugler and other Agenda Europe personalities among the speakers — in Budapest on Thursday and Friday.

When it comes to abortion rights, the network is allegedly seeking to replicate recent anti-choice efforts in the US, where right-wing activists have gradually manoeuvred people who share the same views into the judicial and political systems.

“They’ll be really pumped up by the potential reversal of the Roe v Wade,” Datta added.

“Firstly, because it provides them with a model of one of the most advanced countries taking a position that conforms to their own thinking. 

The US court is not responding to changes in society

"This is the result of a 20-to-30-year strategy by the US Christian right to influence the whole American judicial system by training and placing its own people in the system.” 

Making headway

The network is believed to have already made headway in Europe, including heavily influencing Poland’s near-total ban on abortion as well as the outcome of same-sex marriage referendums in countries including Croatia, Romania, and Slovenia.

Although abortion is legal in Hungary, the procedure has become more difficult to access under Viktor Orbán’s right-wing populist government.

In Italy, the network is believed to have gained a foothold in 2019 when the country hosted a conference of the controversial World Congress of Families (WCF), a US Christian-right supported global coalition, in Verona.

Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League, a key component of the Italian government, spoke at the event, as did his far-right counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, who leads Brothers of Italy, the party leading in opinion polls.

Restriction measures

Measures to restrict abortion — such as banning health clinics from providing the abortion pill or allowing anti-abortion activists to infiltrate hospitals to pressure women not to end their pregnancy — have been introduced in Italian regions led by a coalition of the two parties and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, including Marche, Lombardy, Piedmont, Umbria, and Veneto.

Even though abortion was legalised in Italy via a referendum in 1978, it has become increasingly difficult for women to access a safe procedure due to the high number of gynaecologists — seven out of 10 — who are “moral objectors”

An influential politician with the League is Simone Pillon. Until his election as senator in March 2018, he was an adviser on the board of Novae Terrae, an anti-abortion organisation headed by his close friend, Luca Volantè, a politician with the now-defunct Union of the Centre Party and former chairman of the parliamentary group of the European People’s party.

Demonstration

Pillon has a 20-year history of close relationships with Italian anti-abortion groups and attended a large anti-abortion demonstration in Rome on Saturday.

“I am from the pro-life world and then I entered into politics to bring forward the voice of the pro-life associations,” he said.

Pillon said he was “envious” of the situation regarding Roe v Wade in US, adding that a similar outcome would arrive in Europe “sooner or later”.