A new coalition backed by a $30 million venture fund from pro-life philanthropists will seek to unify the fragmented pro-life movement in America.
40 Days for Life co-founder David Bereit launched the Life Leadership Conference on Tuesday. The collective seeks to unite pro-life think tanks, ministries, and policy leaders under one umbrella so the movement can win more and compromise less, according to a memo to pro-life leaders from the initiative’s architects.
“This was born out of a lot of frustration in the pro-life movement, particularly since the overturn of Roe v. Wade,” Bereit told The Daily Signal. “A lot of leaders have been in discussions talking about how our movement is too fragmented with different groups working in isolation, diluting our impact.”
As the executive director of the conference, Bereit will create more open channels of communication among pro-life organizations, manage a budget for gatherings, underwrite research and polling work for pro-life groups, and wage campaigns in pursuit of a culture of life, according to the memo.
The $30 million Pro-Life Venture Fund backing the effort comes from pro-life philanthropists and will provide resources for groups who are willing to work together under the guidance of the conference. Bereit said he anticipates this fund will grow.
Leonard Leo and Raymond Ruddy are the two principal philanthropists and the architects of initiative, along with Bereit and Princeton professor Robert P. George. Leo serves as the co-chairman of The Federalist Society board of directors, while retired Catholic businessman Ruddy is a prominent philanthropist who founded the Gerard Health Foundation in 2001. George serves as a professor of jurisprudence and the director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.
The conference has yet to extend formal invitations for membership to pro-life groups but will do so in the coming weeks, according to Bereit.
After the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade, removed certain federal protections for abortion and turned decisions on abortion laws back to the states, the pro-life movement has been losing more than it has been winning at the state level, according to Bereit. The Life Leadership Conference seeks a solution to this problem, he said.
“There has been a recognition that we need strategic coordination for groups and leaders, and for philanthropists to link arms together and find ways to strategize, coordinate, and mobilize together to achieve greater collective impact,” he said.
Instead of a federal battle over abortion, the pro-life movement must shift to 50 state-by-state battles. Incremental goals for the conference include strengthening the networks of pregnancy centers and maternity homes, driving pro-life policy changes at the state level, and mobilizing the younger generations through media, Bereit said.
The end goal of the initiative, he said, is to establish a culture in which every woman facing an unexpected pregnancy is supported and abortion is unavailable and unthinkable.
“We are going to work until the day when no more women cry, no more children die—and not merely shrug it off as a tragedy but instead a problem that needs to be aggressively solved,” he said.
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