Western-backed funding drives Africa’s new abortion coalition, raising concerns over ideological colonization in reproductive policy.
Newsroom (29/01/2026 Gaudium Press ) A new coalition has emerged on the African continent, declaring its mission to “Africanize” abortion research and advocacy. Yet beneath its local branding lies a network deeply linked to Western funding and influence. The African Coalition for Research and Communication on Abortion (ACORCA) says it wants to reclaim ownership of reproductive health policy from global North institutions. But critics argue that what’s unfolding could be the latest chapter in a long history of ideological colonization.
“For a very long time, this kind of research work on abortion in Africa has been driven mostly by the global North,” ACORCA spokeswoman Naa Dodoo noted during a podcast with Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters. She spoke of a desire to move “ownership, leadership, and funding decisions into African hands.” Yet, the coalition’s financial and organizational roots tell a more complicated story—one that traces back squarely to Western capitals and philanthropies.
From Colonial Rule to Cultural Engineering
Many African countries still uphold pro-life laws inherited from colonial administrators, and abortion remains highly restricted across most of sub-Saharan Africa. Social resistance to abortion is equally intense, sustained by deep ties to faith, family, and community values.
But as Pope Francis has described, “ideological colonization” has replaced overt imperialism. Instead of armies, it is ideas—and the money behind them—that shape the modern sphere of influence. ACORCA’s creation fits squarely within this trend.
The coalition’s seed money came from the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute, originally part of Planned Parenthood. Its founding partners—such as Ibis Reproductive Health and the African Population and Health Research Center—receive millions from Western foundations, including Gates, Ford, Packard, Hewlett, and Rockefeller, along with Open Society and billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
ACORCA’s secretariat operates from Rwanda’s Health Development Initiative (HDI), an organization sustained by the Swedish government and the Packard Foundation. Though ACORCA notes it is not a registered legal entity and that HDI manages its funds separately, this setup further layers a Western-backed structure onto a purportedly African initiative.
The Network Behind the Narrative
Tracing the connections among ACORCA’s members reveals a recurring pattern: major Western foundations channel resources to build local allies who, in turn, advocate for policy changes aligned with global reproductive agendas.
In Ethiopia, the St. Paul Institute for Reproductive Health and Rights counts as major funders Engender Health and the University of Michigan’s Center for International Reproductive Health Training—backed by a $25 million anonymous U.S. donation. In Nigeria, the Centre for Research, Evaluation Resources and Development was launched with Population Council support and has worked with MSI Reproductive Choices and International Planned Parenthood Federation—two organizations central to spreading abortion access worldwide.
Such networks demonstrate how “local ownership” can mask a form of dependency. African institutions may appear autonomous, yet much of their capacity, data, and direction stem from Western benefactors. The result is a subtle but potent form of influence—cultural, academic, and political.
Turning the Colonial Narrative Upside Down
When ACORCA launched publicly at the International Conference on Family Planning in Bogotá, Colombia, last fall, Guttmacher Institute researcher Dr. Onikepe Owolabi argued that colonialism had originally imposed restrictive abortion laws on Africa. She suggested that by liberalizing those laws, groups like ACORCA were in fact undoing colonial legacies.
Critics see it differently. While colonial authorities once imposed Western laws, today a new wave of Western institutions and wealthy donors seeks to reshape Africa’s legal and moral systems under the banner of empowerment. The methods are quieter—funding, research, partnerships—but the goal persists: to align African societies with Western ideological norms.
The difference is not whether colonization exists, but what form it takes. Where foreign powers once drew borders and appointed administrators, they now endow foundations and empower “local” voices who share their worldview.
Africa’s Crossroads
ACORCA stands at the intersection of laudable aims—local research, women’s health, and data-driven policy—and a pattern that many on the continent recognize from history: the use of material power to redefine cultural truths. Whether this is genuine African leadership or a new kind of colonization disguised as development remains an open question.
The coalition’s success will depend not only on its research, but on its ability to prove that Africa’s voice is not merely echoed through Western microphones.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Zenit News
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