US Assumes Control Over Global Anti-Abortion Geneva Consensus Declaration, Affirms Religious Groups

The United States has assumed the secretariat of the Geneva Consensus Declaration (GCD), a global anti-abortion initiative launched by Donald Trump’s administration weeks before he was voted out of office in 2020.

Hungary took over the secretariat after Trump was voted out, but the US rejoined the initiative in January 2025, a week after Trump was sworn in for the second time.

Late last week, the US announced that it had taken over the secretariat again, which is being housed in the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Global Affairs (OGA).

OGA director Bethany Kozma has been driving GCD since its formation and is a longstanding anti-abortion campaigner.

Last week, she travelled to Argentina to welcome it as the latest signatory of the GCD, which is now supported by 42 countries.

Several of the GCD signatories are ranked among the worst countries for women’s rights, according to Georgetown University‘s Women, Peace and Security Index. 

Kozma has contributed to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s right-wing blueprint for a second Trump term, which advocates for extreme abortion restrictions.

She has also run Project 2025 training videos in which she has called for the Trump administration to remove any mention of gender and to “eradicate climate change references from absolutely everywhere,” describing it as “population control”, according to video footage obtained by ProPublica.

Removing ‘modern contraception’ mention

While working in the first Trump administration, Kozma was part of a negotiation on women’s rights at the United Nations, where she and her delegation wanted any mention of “modern contraceptives” removed and replaced with “family planning” to enable abstinence-only programmes, according to Independent.

She has also been instrumental in the Trump administration’s drive to remove any mention of “sexual and reproductive health” from UN documents.

Valerie Huber, who heads the Institute for Women’s Health (IWH), is the key negotiator for the GCD, particularly in Africa where she targets conservative African states and the First Ladies. Huber once ran a national organisation dedicated to promoting abstinence.

Next month, the IWH will host the sixth annual GCD commemoration on Capitol Hill, bringing together Members of Congress and more than 40 nations who have signed it.

The GCD, which was not signed in Geneva despite its name, states that “there is no international right to abortion, nor any international obligation on the part of states to finance or facilitate abortion” 

A joint statement issued last week by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, stated that the GCD has “four main objectives: to secure meaningful health and development gains for women; to protect life at all stages; to defend the family as the fundamental unit of society; and to work together across the UN system to realize these values”.

However, the value of family was mainstreamed in the UN from its formation, with the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights asserting that “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State”.

Huge allocation for faith-based groups

Meanwhile, the US State Department announced in early August that it would allocate “nearly $2 billion in partnerships with faith-based and community organizations that provide global health and humanitarian assistance around the world.”

The allocation “underscores the Trump Administration’s commitment to partnering with organizations that demonstrate faith in action and have proven their ability to deliver health and humanitarian assistance in the world’s most difficult environments, “according to the statement.

The media release mentions World Vision, Compassion International, and Samaritan’s Purse.

Image Credits: US HHS.