Trump administration rejoins pro-life Geneva Consensus Declaration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 30, 2025 / 18:05 pm (CNA).

During its first week in office, the administration of President Donald Trump announced that the United States has rejoined the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a coalition of nations united in support of pro-life and pro-women policies.

The U.S. was a founding member of the Geneva Consensus Declaration (GCD), which was established in 2020 during Trump’s first term. Along with the U.S., Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda were among the original signatories.

According to the Institute for Women’s Health (IWH), a key supporter of the GCD, the alliance was forged to “protect the health and thriving of women throughout every stage of life, assert that there is no international right to abortion, defend the family as foundational to every healthy society, and protect the sovereign right of nations to support these core values through national policy and legislation.”

Today, 40 member nations are signatories of the declaration.

Valerie Huber, president of IWH and the architect of the GCD, said: “We knew that countries were standing for these values prior to the GCD, but when countries stand together, that multiplies the impact.”

“Now 40 countries have declared that when we are talking about human rights, abortion is not one of them,” Huber continued.

In 2021, nine days after his inauguration, former President Joe Biden withdrew the United States from the GCD.

“The GCD, of course, poses a threat to progressive global hegemony because it’s both politically effective and entirely voluntary,” Huber said.

But in his second term as president, within the first 100 hours of his presidency, Trump recommitted the U.S. to the GCD, becoming the 40th nation to join the alliance.

Huber, who served in the first Trump administration as the first special representative for global women’s health, initiated the GCD to make a pro-family and pro-women political declaration and nation-to-nation partnership.

In an IWH press release, Huber said: “By rejoining, President Trump sends a bold message that the United States stands with sovereign nations to defend the real health needs of women against coercive tactics by global power players.”

“The Biden administration’s withdrawal from the GCD misrepresented and undermined the coalition’s commitment to advance health and thriving for women at every stage of life. Despite relentless efforts by critics to dismantle and discredit it, IWH celebrates that the GCD has not only survived but thrived over the past four years — expanding its membership and influence,” she said.

Huber said that after the news broke of America’s reentry, she received communications from multiple countries excited to be in the same coalition as the United States and eager to connect with the nation.

“I hope that we have the opportunity to show more countries and more people that the good of America is back, and it never really left because so many Americans share the same altruistic, compassionate, and good heart,” Huber concluded.