Inside Europe’s billion-dollar anti-gender movement

A new report reveals how groups critical of so-called gender ideology across the EU raised $1.18 billion to target abortion, sex education and LGBTQ+ rights.

By Federica Di Sario, Parliament Magazine
26 Jun 2025

For progressives in Europe, 2013 was a year of hope. France adopted historic legislation legalising same-sex marriage. Only a few months later, the UK extended similar rights through the Marriage Act. Portugal implemented a new law to protect transgender rights. And even Ireland — long a Catholic stronghold — introduced new measures to shield queer youth from bullying.

But 2013 also marked a turning point for a group of religious conservatives. Alarmed by what they saw as an erosion of traditional values, they began to mobilise. A decade later, activism once confined to the political fringe has evolved into a billion-euro operation seeking to defeat “gender ideology.”

Continued: https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/inside-europes-billioneuro-antigender-movement

26.06.2025

Commentary

Aleksandar Vučić

American Center for Law & Justice

Bert-Jan Ruissen

European branch of the Center for Reproductive Rights

European Center for Law and Justice

European Conservatives and Reformists

European Court of Human Rights

European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights

French Fonds de dotation GT Editions

gender identity rights

EU must guarantee access to reproductive healthcare for Ukrainian refugees

Third anniversary of Russia invasion highlights ongoing gaps in care and protection

02.24.2025
Center for Reproductive Rights

BRUSSELS — Three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many refugees—particularly women and girls—continue to face serious barriers in accessing essential sexual and reproductive healthcare in some parts of the EU.

The recent decision to renew the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) extends member states’ obligations to provide crucial support to millions fleeing the war, including healthcare. However, its inconsistent implementation in some countries, and the lack of detailed guidance from the European Commission on its requirements, has left many women from Ukraine without affordable access to good quality maternal healthcare, contraception services and urgent abortion care.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/eu-access-reproductive-healthcare-ukrainian-refugees/

24.02.2025

News

Care in Crisis report

Center for Reproductive Rights

European Institute for Gender Equality

Katrine Thomasen

Mihela Kralj

refugees and abortion

Temporary Protection Directive

New UN Report: Polish Abortion Law Violates Human Rights

A comprehensive investigation reveals the devastating consequences of Poland's restrictive abortion law on women's health and bodily autonomy, requiring urgent legal reform.

Center for Reproductive Rights
Sept 13, 2024

In a groundbreaking report, the United Nations (UN) has denounced Poland’s restrictive abortion law for causing severe human rights violations. The three-year investigation, conducted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), reveals the devastating toll the law is taking on women’s health and rights in Poland and calls for swift and sweeping legal reform to legalize and fully decriminalize abortion.

The CEDAW inquiry into Poland’s abortion law was initiated after submissions by the Center for Reproductive Rights, in collaboration with Polish civil society organizations including the Foundation for Women and Family Planning (FEDERA) and the Karat Coalition. This effort sought to draw urgent international attention to Poland’s severe abortion restrictions and their harmful impact on women’s health, rights, and bodily autonomy over decades.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/un-cedaw-report-poland-abortion/

13.09.2024

News

CEDAW

Center for Reproductive Rights

FEDERA

Foundation for Women and Family Planning

Karat Coalition

Katrine Thomasen

UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Andorra: Activist on trial for raising concerns about total abortion ban at UN meeting

December 1, 2023
Amnesty International

Abortion rights activist, Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, should have never been charged with a crime or put on trial for defending human rights, said Amnesty International, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Women’s Link ahead of her defamation trial on Monday.

Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, President of Stop Violence (Stop Violències), a civil society organisation, was charged with criminal defamation after voicing concerns about Andorra’s total abortion ban at a meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to examine the country’s record on women’s rights in 2019.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/12/andorra-activist-on-trial-for-raising-concerns-about-total-abortion-ban-at-un-meeting/

Europe – Even where abortion is legal, access is not granted

Even where abortion is legal, access is not granted
In several European countries tough abortion laws are not necessary, as the lack of available gynecologists makes it almost impossible for women to access abortion.

Thursday 24 May 2018
Paola Tamma

Ireland will hold a referendum on 25 May, asking voters whether they want or not to repeal the so-called Eight amendment to the Irish Constitution, guaranteeing the equal right to life of the unborn and the mother, and prohibiting abortion in almost all cases, making it one of the world’s toughest abortion laws in the world.

But tough law is not always needed to actually restrict access to abortion: in some countries where abortion is legal, women face increasing problems to access it because non-objecting gynecologists are simply not available.

continued: https://www.europeandatajournalism.eu/eng/News/Data-news/Even-where-abortion-is-legal-access-is-not-granted