Serving as the Executive Vice-President of the Center for Family & Human Rights or “C-Fam,” Lisa Correnti is part of a team that’s laser-focused on advancing the protection of human life at all stages, including the preborn, and promoting pro-family policies on a global scale.
Despite powerful Western influences united in encouraging abortion and gender ideology, C-Fam has been successful in empowering delegations worldwide to prevent abortion from being instituted as a right.
Correnti told Live Action News, “It’s very hard for poor traditional countries to stand up to a powerful coalition [attempting to make] abortion widespread across the world. The international machinery at the United Nations (U.N.) and elsewhere is tough to fight. But for 25 years, C-Fam has been able to block an international abortion mandate.”
The woman so dedicated to protecting the sanctity of life started her activism by praying outside abortion clinics. As abortion clinics grew in presence and influence due to state and federal funding, Correnti became concerned at what she saw as the predatory nature of abortion clinics like Planned Parenthood having easy access to young women.
“Having seven children, I decided to become more involved in public policy to help safeguard young women and adolescent girls from the life-long harm of abortion,” Correnti said. “I worked on the parental notification bill in California and was the campaign manager for a pro-life congressional candidate.”
When her children grew older, Correnti relocated to the nation’s capital and worked full-time for a pro-life organization. Attending the annual U.N. women’s conference provided her with an opportunity to see C-Fam’s impressive work with the U.N. to protect the preborn, women, and girls from the cruelties of abortion.
Correnti said, “In the mid-90’s, there were a series of global conferences on international development and women’s rights, with some countries trying to secure consensus on a human right to abortion. While these initial attempts failed, C-Fam was founded to work alongside U.N. delegates [and] U.S. lawmakers to advocate for human life and traditional family values.”
Cutting off global funding for abortion starts with U.S. foreign policy
C-Fam’s mission is encompassing when it comes to defending life, Correnti points out. C-Fam follows how global funding is being spent and identifies which organizations are key players in implementing U.N. and U.S. foreign policy overseas. Terms like “reproductive health” and “reproductive rights” are being incorporated into other issues like education, clean water, sanitation, and women’s economic empowerment — a concerning trend in international policy.
With its institutional knowledge and vast network, and staff of legal and policy experts, there currently is no other organization uniquely qualified in global pro-life policy debates like C-Fam. Its expertise in policy helps identify threats to life and family values by U.N. agencies which often employ use of ambiguous language in proposed legislation.
“Currently, we are closely monitoring how the international family planning movement continues to promote abortion and furthers the dangerous rhetoric of population control as a solution to climate alarmism,” Correnti said. “We also scrutinize what’s occurring with the sexualization of children through the dubious ‘comprehensive sexuality education’ concept, issues around euthanasia, and the selective abortion of children with disabilities.”
While C-Fam’s purview is internationally focused, the organization keeps an eye on federal policies to alert pro-life members of Congress and other national pro-life coalitions of red flags in pending regulations that may affect U.S. foreign assistance programs. But because abortion is a well-funded institutionalized global industry supported by powerful governments and rich foundations, the abortion fight must extend beyond domestic borders.
Correnti said, “International organizations like the U.N. have increasing influence over national policies in countries everywhere, including our own. U.N. agencies and western countries’ foreign assistance initiatives push controversial issues like abortion and gender ideology within their programs. The Biden administration has prioritized both these issues in U.S. foreign assistance. We must continually monitor these developments and take steps to undo the damage in a subsequent pro-life administration.”
C-Fam collaborates with member states and other alliances to host events inside U.N. headquarters on various topics such as upholding the family unit, maternal and child health, trafficking and prostitution and other development and humanitarian related issues.
“Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe, we expect the attack against children in the womb to become more virulent from the international perspective,” Correnti said. “The abortion industry does not want to let countries decide the issue of abortion democratically. The U.N. regularly criticizes the U.S. for allowing abortion rights to be determined at the state level.”
Critical times ahead in the fight against abortion
In the last two years since the 2020 election, there has been growing pressure at the U.N. on developing countries to accept abortion-related policies. In the coming year, Correnti expects pressure from the Biden administration and European powers to increase. It will be critical for C-Fam, Correnti said, to hold the line at the U.N., so no ground is lost in stopping attempts to initiate a universal right to abortion.
Correnti said, “The Biden administration has made it clear they support promoting abortion abroad with U.S. foreign assistance. This funding will continue the proliferation of abortion groups in developing countries and once there, these organizations lobby to change pro-life laws. In the next two years, the U.S. government will likely provide multi-year grants to abortion promoting organizations that will do great harm to women and girls worldwide.”
While the challenges ahead are significant, C-Fam is well positioned to effectively combat the devastating anti-life policies the U.N. and its allies are intent on implementing.
“We look forward to partnering with national pro-life groups to help them understand international law and policies in order to become more effective advocates at all levels and join us in this fight,” Correnti said. “And we must ensure U.S. legislation to advance abortion, the sexualization of children or threaten traditional family values is not passed into law.”
