UNdoing Reproductive Freedom
Christian Right NGOs Target the United Nations
Executive Summary
T
he Christian Right increasingly seeks to restrict womens reproductive rights internationally
through its growing number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with consultative sta-
tus at the United Nations. Believing their power to be enhanced by the election of an anti-choice
president in 2000, these anti-choice NGOs have increased their presence at the UN. They oppose
UN programs and platforms promoting access to abortion and contraception, and they promote an
abstinence-only family planning curriculum worldwide. Using the access to a few official delegations
and activities offered by their consultative status, the NGOs pursue their goals by attempting to
stonewall the deliberative process of committees, organizing and funding an international caucus
composed of other conservative religious entities and governments to mobilize opposition more
broadly within the UN.
Working through the UN constitutes a shift in the history of conservative Christian evangelical
organizations that historically limited themselves abroad to missionary work. Influenced by other
sectors of the Right that oppose the existence of the United Nations as a threatening One World
Government, they have executed a Trojan Horse strategy of infiltrating the UN under the guise of
reforming the institution, resulting in prolonged negotiations that signal to their supporters influence
far greater than is actually the case.