Pro-life coalition launches $30 million Pro-Life Venture Fund to protect unborn

A group of pro-life philanthropists in the United States has launched a $30 million Pro-Life Venture Fund to support projects aimed at making abortion “unavailable and unthinkable,” according to its founder.

The new group, called the Life Leadership Conference, was formally announced on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The intention, according to the executive director, David Bereit, is to reduce overlap and redundancies among pro-life groups and create “a team dedicated to advancing the entirety of the movement.”

“This is what the pro-life movement has needed, in my opinion, for decades,” Bereit told CNA.

Although Bereit said “everything is still in the very earliest stages” and “we have not begun the process of formal invitations and establishing the membership,” the Life Leadership Conference is already backed by influential pro-life leaders.

Bereit previously founded and led the international pro-life 40 Days for Life and serves as a member of the Equal Rights Institute’s board of advisers. The Life Leadership Conference is also supported by Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, Princeton professor Robert George, and retired businessman Ray Ruddy.

“[We need to] bring our very best efforts to solving one of the greatest cultural problems,” Bereit added.

Bereit said the Life Leadership Conference is still finalizing its membership criteria but that the coalition will hopefully include major pro-life nonprofits as well as newer and emerging pro-life leaders. 

The launch of the Life Leadership Conference was announced in a Feb. 18 letter outlining its goals that was sent to numerous pro-life organizations.

According to the letter, Bereit will build membership, create channels of communication among pro-life groups, and manage a budget to facilitate gatherings, support research and polling, and wage pro-life campaigns.

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