The global abortion industry has recently expanded its pursuits in Africa. In late 2024, an organization called the African Coalition for Research & Communication on Abortion (ACORCA) was formed.
ACORCA’s mission seeks “transformative policies, practices and societal change for equitable access to safe abortion across Africa.” They further seek to ensure “every woman and girl has access to safe, high-quality abortion.”
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“Guttmacher of Africa”
Thomas W. Jacobson, founder of the Global Life Campaign, has called ACORCA the “Guttmacher of Africa.”
The Guttmacher Institute originated in 1968 as part of the abortion industry giant Planned Parenthood. Their mission includes promotion of abortion via the euphemism: “committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights.”
ACORCA is poised to serve a function similar to Guttmacher with the expressed goal to advocate for abortion in Africa.
There is also personnel overlap between the two organizations. One of ACORCA’s executive committee members, Dr. Akinrinola Bankole, is also a Senior Fellow with the Guttmacher Institute. Another, Prof. Akanni Akinyemi, is a recipient of Guttmacher’s Bixby International Leadership Fellow Award. Other committee members are cited on several Guttmacher pages and reports.
The ACORCA emphasis on abortion stands in contrast to other African organizations seeking to help pregnant women. For example, operating in Southern Africa, the Pregnancy Help Network’s stated vision is:
“A properly equipped and adequately resourced pregnancy help organisation to reach every community in Southern Africa so that no woman or girl should ever have to face an unexpected pregnancy without emotional and practical support, and a safe space to explore all options.”
Targeting minors and parental consent
Founding members of ACORCA frequently have advocated to remove parental safeguards if their minor daughter seeks an abortion. For example:
One of ACORCA’s founding members, the African Institute for Development Policy in Malawi and Kenya, lamented that “traditional” abortion centers “discriminate” because they require “minimum age or parental consent” for abortion.
A document from founding ACORCA member, the African Population & Health Research Center in Kenya, similarly grieved that “requiring parental consent [for services like abortion] could mean young people are sometimes denied lifesaving services.”
In August, another ACORCA founding member, the Health Development Initiative in Rwanda, advocated to remove parental consent laws for minors to access contraceptives.
History of population control in Africa
The “societal change” ACORCA seeks in Africa builds on other Western enterprises on the continent including contraception, sterilization, and “gender” ideology. For example, billionaire Bill Gates is currently funding a contraceptive campaign in several African nations to sterilize citizens for “up to eight years” according to Business Insider Africa.
The article acknowledges opposition to the plan: “critics argue that the new program not only focuses on population control but also risks taking away one of Africa’s major advantages: its growing population.”
In January 2026, Gates spoke before the World Economic Forum. He announced a collaboration with Sam Altman’s OpenAI to introduce artificial intelligence in the African healthcare system, including advising women on pregnancy. Reuters reported that Gates’ “[AI] initiative would likely focus on improving care for pregnant women and HIV patients, by supporting them with advice before they reached the clinic…”
Gates’ contraceptive ambitions in Africa span over a decade. In 2012, Nigerian biomedical scientist Obianuju Ekeocha wrote an open letter to Melinda Gates, stating:
“Amidst all our African afflictions and difficulties, amidst all the socioeconomic and political instabilities, our babies are always a firm symbol of hope, a promise of life, a reason to strive for the legacy of a bright future.”
Political advocacy
The Guttmacher Institute has engaged in abortion advocacy pertaining to legislation or the judiciary. For example, they submitted Amicus Briefs for Dobbs v. Jackson (2022) in which they argued against sending abortion law back to the States, and FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (2024) in which they argued against stricter adverse reporting regulations for the abortion pill. Guttmacher is regularly cited by media and politicians.
Tweet This: The African Coalition for Research & Communication on Abortion has been called the “Guttmacher of Africa.”
Given ACORCA’s overlap with Guttmacher’s business model and leadership personnel, the organization stands to serve as a similar arm of political propagation for the abortion industry in Africa. The ACORCA website celebrates recent political influence from partner member, Ipas. In 2021, Ipas lobbied the Ministry of Health in the West African nation Benin to promote contraception and abortion.
The installation of such abortion-advocacy organizations in Africa emphasizes the abortion industry’s prioritization of narrative and institutional control.
