Louise Aurore Louvet (2026)
Neil Datta, the Executive Director and founder of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF), has worked in coordination with members of parliament for more than twenty years to improve women’s sexual health and reproductive rights. While issues of contraception, abortion, maternal health, gender-based violence and HPV prevention were the primary focus, the Forum is now increasingly studying the rise of the “anti-gender movement”, whose impact and influence have slowly reshaped the use of contraceptives and perspectives on sexual rights.
This blogpost offers key takeways from an interview with Neil Datta during the Bergen Exchanges on reproductive justice in light of the rise of the anti-gender movement.
The anti-gender movement in Europe.
This anti-gender movement is characterized by a strong opposition to abortion and sexual reproductive health and rights. Its proponents mobilize religious doctrines, nationalist claims, and economic arguments to justify their political claims. Their anti-abortion position is rooted in the need for procreation, whether for religious arguments, the need for a ‘great nation’ and pride in its citizens, or their conception of the nation-state. More specifically, Neil emphasized how the economic actors often resort to a “value-based smokescreen”, wherein the far-right invoke values to justify their agenda, without necessarily believing them.
The case of Italy.
Neil highlights the example of how Giorgia Meloni’s gender ideology has been instrumentalized to discredit sexual and reproductive health and rights through policy implementation. Italian parents are now bound to give authorization for their children to receive sexual education. This tactic is entrenched in a wider strategy developed over the last decade to implement this anti-gender position, that not only singles out sexuality education but also stigmatizes it and frames it as ‘abnormal’.
What is driving rise of anti-gender mobilization in Europe ?
Different factors explain the rising popularity of this movement. First, it benefits from being ahead of liberal actors on social media. Being largely excluded from media, these groups have found an alternative into social media which are now their main platform of communication. This shift in communication strategies has given a voice to the movement, boosting its popularity online. Second, the novelty of the movement has provided space to experiment with youth mobilization, influencing both in the target audience and the activists within this movement. As Neil noted, “They have invested quite a bit in youth outreach. And so nowadays, the average face of the anti-gender, anti-rights movement could look like you guys.”
What strategies and efforts are being used to counter or mitigate the impact of the anti-gender movement?
According to Neil, social media are merely a tool; therefore, they can also be used to reverse this movement. However, Neil underlines how these platforms are mostly controlled by a limited number of individuals with their own ideological and personal interests.
Neil warns us that the anti-gender movement’s advance over progressive human rights and liberal movements poses a serious threat to how we view health and male/female interactions, which could ultimately impact access to contraception and shape voters’ political preferences.
Indeed, over the last decade, a large number of young people from sexual minorities have become increasingly drawn to voting far-right. For example in the UK, almost a third of gay men claim they will vote far-right in the next elections. While the far-right parties are winning over these new electors, liberal parties seem quite oblivious to the situation and still think that these voters are ‘taken for granted’.
Furthermore, Neil underlines how the rights previously taken for granted are likely to be challenged soon, such as divorce in Poland, alongside broader contraception and sexual rights. While access to contraception may not be outright banned, there are systemic and structural ways to make access more difficult, such as removing government support on contraception.
Neil Datta is the Executive Director and founder of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF) and was a panelist during the Bergen Exchanges.