UN Pro-Life Coalition Grows

By | 2026

UNITED NATIONS, September 25 (C-Fam) At a UN conference organized by C-Fam (published in the Friday Fax), Trump administration officials encouraged ministers and diplomats attending the General Assembly to stand up to UN agencies and powerful governments that promote abortion and gender ideology around the world.

“Sometimes it takes one country to say no. But it is a lot easier to say that when you are not standing alone,” Bethany Kozma told ministers and ambassadors attending the General Assembly. The Director of the Office of Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services delivered the keynote address at the first-ever side event to promote the Geneva Consensus Declaration on Women’s Health and Strengthening the Family during the General Assembly’s high-level week. During the event, ministers from Algeria, Honduras, and Trinidad and Tobago signed the declaration.

The agreement launched in 2020 commits governments to protect the family, women, and children while upholding national sovereignty. It expressly denies that abortion is an international right and calls for the UN system to rein in abortion activism.

Kozma acknowledged that taking a stand for the family and the protection of women and children in UN negotiations “was not always easy.” She described witnessing firsthand how UN agencies and governments strong-arm other nations into accepting agreements “that were never agreed.”

She expressed her desire that Geneva Consensus Declaration signatories, which now number 46 nations, may become a coalition at the United Nations that can change UN policy for the better. Her office recently assumed the secretariat for the declaration and is expected to coordinate with member states to develop initiatives that promote women’s health and the family in full respect for national sovereignty both domestically and internationally.

Not all countries who signed the agreement see eye to eye on all issues, but this was not an obstacle for Kozma. “We don’t have to have identical policies,” she said, emphasizing that the coalition was broad precisely because the principles it promotes are universally accepted. “We are not here to speak for sovereign nations, but to speak better together,” she said. “Use this coalition. Talk to one another. When one stands up for these principles, let’s make sure they do not stand alone.”

Agustín Ezequiel Caulo, Secretary of Worship and Civilization for Argentina, also spoke at the event. Argentina recently became the regional leader for the declaration for Latin America. “Some truths exist before the law ever gets around to regulate them,” he said. “Argentina calls things by their name. Life deserves to be protected from conception. The family must be strengthened as the basic unit of society.”

Caulo said the Geneva Consensus Declaration brought “moral clarity” by expressly ruling out an international right to abortion or any obligation to finance or facilitate abortion and requiring international cooperation to be rooted in mutual respect between sovereign “free nations.”

Several delegates expressed their thanks to the U.S. officials who attended the event and expressed their hope that the event would lead to increased momentum and more assertive positions for protection of the family in UN policy.

One diplomat who has worked on UN social policy for almost two decades was especially heartened. “I would have never imagined that the United States would be at this place on this issue. We need your voice. You can be a force for good on protection of the family.”

The event was organized by Civil Society for the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a newly formed coalition of 101 organizations. The steering committee for the coalition is made up of C-Fam, publisher of the Friday Fax, Family Watch International, the Institute for Women’s Health, the Heritage Foundation, Global Center for Human Rights, and Alliance Defending Freedom.

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