Christian rights group challenges ‘extremism’ claims in EU abortion lobby report

 

CNA Deutsch, Aug 6, 2025 / 10:44 am (CNA).

A leading Christian human rights organization has rejected accusations of extremism in a controversial report by a European abortion advocacy group.

The European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights released “The Next Wave” in late June, a report linking Christian pro-life organizations to “religious extremism,” reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

The document claimed a “new alliance of religious extremists, far-right populists, and oligarchic funders” was infiltrating mainstream politics.

Funding hypocrisy alleged

Felix Böllmann, the director of European advocacy of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, called the report “a thinly veiled attempt to silence ideological opponents under the guise of academic research” in an interview with Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost.

Despite presenting itself as neutral, the forum operates as a “well-funded activist network,” Bölmmann said, adding it received nearly 3 million euros (approximately $3.4 million) annually from donors including the Gates Foundation, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, Merck Sharp & Dohme, UNFPA, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

“It is remarkably hypocritical for such an organization to accuse others of ‘dark money’ when it itself relies on opaque and ideologically driven funding,” Böllmann told Die Tagespost.

‘5D strategy’

The report labeled ADF International as extremist alongside Catholic organizations including Poland’s Ordo Iuris and the Netherlands’ Civitas Christiana.

Even Hungary Helps, a charity supporting persecuted Christians, was classified as an “enemy of sexual rights.”

Böllmann characterized this as a “5D strategy”: “Disrobe, disarm, dislocate, demonetize, and defend — a plan to deprive Christian and conservative voices of legitimacy, financial support, and access to public debate.”

The approach aims at “enforcing a socio-political agenda through the instrumentalization of a misunderstood concept of human rights,” he said.

Böllmann challenged the forum’s undefined use of “religious extremism.” Unlike official EU anti-terrorism documents focusing on violence, the group applies the label to organizations that “invest financially in conservative movements and question constructed codes, such as a ‘right to sexual and reproductive health.’”

“Such a self-definition is clearly based on ideological premises, not on objective, legal standards,” he said.

Lobbying influence

The alliance actively shapes EU political processes despite its NGO (nongovernmental organization) status, influencing European Parliament reports, hearings, and resolutions. It organizes inter-party parliamentary networks and provides lawmakers with expert briefings, “effectively creating a lobbying infrastructure within the EU Parliament.”

The forum group emerged in 2000 as a spinoff of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which traces its origins to Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and eugenics advocate, CNA Deutsch reported.

The group’s 2023 budget totaled $2.38 million, with 45% from public donors, 31% from foundations, and 20% from pharmaceutical companies.

“The more they try to silence us, the clearer it becomes: Our work is having an impact — in our commitment to fundamental freedoms in Europe and beyond,” Böllmann told Die Tagespost.

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.