The ex-wife of liberal megadonor Bill Gates has committed to spending $1 billion supporting abortion and other left-of-center priorities over the next two years.
Pivotal Ventures, Melinda French Gates’ new charity, announced Tuesday it would be spending to combat “the rollback of women’s rights and headwinds to social progress in the U.S. and around the world.” The philanthropy earmarked $200 million specifically for American organizations focused on “advanc[ing] women’s power and protect[ing] their rights, including reproductive freedom.”
“For too long, a lack of money has forced organizations fighting for women’s rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress play offense,” Gates said. “I want to help even the match.” (RELATED: Bill Gates’ Foundation Poured Millions Into Chinese Government Orgs In 2022)
The Center for Reproductive Rights, the Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity and the National Women’s Law Center were among the pro-abortion organizations that Pivotal Ventures has committed to funding, according to the charity’s website.
The National Women’s Law Center established an “abortion access legal defense fund” after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, according to its website. The fund covers legal expenses for organizations and individuals accused of violating state abortion laws.
The organization opposes efforts to regulate abortion drugs, arguing that they’re safer than Tylenol, according to its website. It has also been active in legal battles over abortion, often filing pro-abortion amicus briefs.
US businesswoman and philanthropist Melinda Gates speaks during the Generation Equality Forum, a global gathering for gender equality convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)
The Center for Reproductive Rights is also focused primarily on legal advocacy and often sues to prevent pro-life laws from taking effect, or to overturn existing laws protecting unborn humans, according to Influence Watch. The center claims that, through a five-year plan it launched in 2021, it loosened abortion-related laws in 17 countries, covering a total of 2.3 billion people.
The Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity has a broader mission, focusing on working to “connect protecting abortion access” to “other priorities of low income women and women of color” like economic issues and voting rights, according to its website.
“The Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity (CGRE) is honored to have received a grant from Melinda French Gates to supercharge our work to advance women’s power and protect women’s rights in the U.S.,” the organization said in response to receiving its grant from Pivotal Ventures.
Gates founded her new charitable venture in May after leaving the Gates Foundation, which she co-founded with her former husband, and taking $12.5 billion with her as part of an exit agreement, Reuters reported.
Not all of Pivotal Ventures’ announced grantees focus on pro-abortion advocacy.
The New America Foundation, for instance, is a sprawling left-of-center think tank that covers a number of areas ranging from “racial equity” to things like technology or education. Community Change, another organization Pivotal Ventures is backing, focuses on helping people of color, immigrants and women to “wield power to reshape our democracy.”
Other areas Pivotal Ventures is focusing on include getting more women elected to office, investing in minority women and bringing more women to the tech industry, among other things, according to its website.
Pivotal Ventures did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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