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Head of anti-abortion group given millions by Trump administration says Muslims are 'replacing' Christian Europeans

'Take the example of Europe: When its nations accepted contraception and abortion, they stopped replacing their population'

Chris Riotta
New York
Wednesday 11 December 2019 20:13 GMT
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The head of a prominent anti-choice group funded in part by Donald Trump’s administration reportedly said “the culture of Europe is changing” after Christians were “replaced” by “immigrant Muslims” due to contraception and abortion access.

Kathleen Eaton Bravo, the chief executive of the anti-contraception organisation Obria, said in a recently unearthed 2015 interview: “Few realise that [abortion] has had a devastating impact on our society, and threatens our culture’s survival.”

“Take the example of Europe: When its nations accepted contraception and abortion, they stopped replacing their population”, she added. “Christianity began to die out. And, with Europeans having no children, immigrant Muslims came in to replace them, and now the culture of Europe is changing.”

Obria has received nearly $2m (£1.5m) in grants from the Trump administration and was set to receive more than $3m (£2.3m) more over the next two years, according to The Guardian, which reported Ms Bravo’s past comments on Wednesday.

Ms Bravo’s comments, which were provided to the Catholic World Report for a story titled “Fighting the culture of death — and Planned Parenthood — in California”, echoed xenophobic and white supremacist sentiments espoused by the far-right.

As seen in anti-immigrant screeds posted by mass shooters on right-wing corners of the web, white supremacists typically believe Muslim refugees and immigrants are hell-bent on taking over European and other western societies and implementing forms of strict Sharia law. There is no evidence to suggest this is actually taking place in Europe.

Ms Bravo goes on to suggest the US could soon face a similar fate to the one she claims Europe is currently enduring thanks to Muslim immigrants.

“In only two of the past 40 years have we replaced our population”, she said. “We’re on the same track as Europe. The church and family are in crisis.”

Obria has become the subject of controversy for receiving grants from the Trump administration previously offered exclusively to groups providing contraception and abortion resources to women.

Mr Trump’s White House changed the policies surrounding federal family planning funds in order to deliver grants to organisations like the one led by Ms Bravo, an outspoken opponent to Planned Parenthood.

Ms Bravo was reportedly congratulated in an email by Diane Foley — a top official at Health and Human Services — on receiving the grants from the Trump administration, and invited to have a private conversation to discuss the funding.

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