Int’l Pro-Life Coalition Grows

By | 2026

Valerie Huber, President of the Institute for Women's Health

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 18 (C-Fam) The international coalition of pro-life and pro-family governments continues to expand. The coalition began six years ago at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term. The recent addition of three more countries in the last year brings the total membership to 43.

The leaders of Mauritania, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic have all recently signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration (GCD) in their capitals, and their representatives were formally welcomed into the coalition at an annual commemoration luncheon Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

The declaration reaffirms what had already been agreed in internationally negotiated documents adopted by consensus: that women’s health must be prioritized, that abortion is not an international human right, that life must be protected before and after birth, the centrality of the family to society, and the importance of national sovereignty.

The event Tuesday hosted by the Institute for Women’s Health was held in a House of Representatives office building and was attended by multiple members of Congress as well as representatives of its member nations and civil society partners.

Vince Haley, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, read a letter from President Trump pledging his support for the Declaration’s “vital mission.”

“My Administration will always stand for the dignity of human life, the health and well-being of women, the strength of the family, and the right to defend these values and traditions,” said the President.

Bethany Kozma, the director of Global Affairs at HHS, who now leads the GCD secretariat, said: “Today the United States is carrying this work forward with a whole-of-government effort.” Emphasizing the importance of coalition building, Kozma said, “Our role is not to speak for sovereign nations.  It is to help sovereign nations speak together.”

The Declaration was spearheaded in 2020 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  Even as the COVID-19 pandemic forced UN meetings to take place remotely, a group of 32 countries jointly launched the declaration, led by the U.S. However, during his term as president, Joe Biden removed the United States from the coalition.

One of Trump’s first actions when he returned to office was to rejoin the coalition. Last month, a joint letter from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. has resumed its role as the secretariat of the coalition.

Since its launch, pro-life members of Congress have supported the coalition, including by introducing resolutions in support of it in both the House and Senate.

Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and James Lankford (R-OK) introduced the first resolution urging the U.S. to rejoin the coalition in 2021.  Both men spoke at the commemoration, as did Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Mary Miller (R-IL). Other members of Congress were also in attendance.

Smith warned the international audience of the dangers of abortion drugs to women as well as the unborn.  He recalled meeting with the UN Secretary-General and pointing out that the drug mifepristone acts by cutting off the vital nutrient supply to the developing child. Given the UN’s focus on ensuring access to nutrition, he pointed out that “it is antithetical to a pro-humanitarian, pro-feed-the-future mentality when you starve little children to death.”

It is expected the Geneva Consensus Declaration will continue to grow.

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