Endeavour Forum (originally Women Who Want to be Women) is a conservative political organisation describing itself as "a Christian,

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

, pro-family organisation that was founded to counter feminism, to defend the right to life of the unborn, and to support marriage and the natural family." It was founded in 1979 by Babette Francis AM and has links to similar groups, such as the

Australian Family Association The Australian Family Association (AFA) is a conservative Christian political organisation. It was founded in 1980 by the National Civic Council's then president, B. A. Santamaria. Beliefs and lobbying The AFA states they were formed to "provide ...

and the

World Congress of Families The World Congress of Families (WCF) is a United States coalition that promotes Christian right values internationally. It opposes same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, while supporting a society built on "the voluntary union of a man and ...

. It exerted strong influence on the Fraser government of the seventies and eighties and the Queensland state government led by Sir

Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...

(1911-2005) until it fell due to internal government corruption in the late nineties. The Endeavour Forum is listed on the ''Australian National Women's Register'' as a lobby group and as a "women's rights organisation". Formerly known as "Women Who Want to be Women", it is now known as Endeavour Forum because the organisation recognised that men comprised a significant proportion of their membership and therefore their original name was inappropriate.

Lobbying

The Endeavour Forum campaigns against abortion with Francis being the Australian representative of the ''Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer''. However,

abortion in Australia Abortion in Australia is legal. It has been fully decriminalised in all jurisdictions, starting with Western Australia in 1998 and lastly in South Australia in 2022. Access to abortion varies between the states and territories: surgical abortion ...

has been decriminalised throughout Australia's various states and territories. The Endeavour Forum has raised concerns regarding

Islam in Australia Islam in Australia is a minority religious affiliation. According to the 2021 Census in Australia, the combined number of people who self-identified as Muslims in Australia, from all forms of Islam, constituted 813,392 people, or 3.2% of t ...

and its radicalisation. The organisation was a partner of the

Coalition for Marriage The Coalition for Marriage, often abbreviated to C4M, is a Christian campaign group in the United Kingdom that opposes same-sex marriage. Founded in February 2012, the Coalition for Marriage is the main campaign group against same-sex marriage ...

in advancing the "No" case, associated with the

Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the postal service between 12 September and 7 November 2017. Unlike voting in e ...

. As with the decriminalisation and liberalisation of abortion in Australia, it ultimately failed to prevent the recognition of

same-sex marriage in Australia Same-sex marriage in Australia has been legal since 9 December 2017. Legislation to allow same-sex marriage, the ''Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'', passed the Australian Parliament on 7 December 2017 and receiv ...

regardless. The Endeavour Forum's founder, Babette Francis, was appointed as a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) by the

Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Australian Christian Lobby The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) is a conservative right-wing Christian advocacy organisation based in Canberra. It is similar to the other international Christian lobby groups, and seeks to represent Christian citizens and voters of Judeo-C ...

FamilyVoice Australia FamilyVoice Australia is a conservative Christian organisation. It was known as Festival of Light Australia from 1973 to 2008. Its stated mission was to be "a Christian ministry to the nation, promoting true family values in the light of the wis ...

Marriage Alliance A marriage of state is a diplomatic marriage or union between two members of different nation-states or internally, between two power blocs, usually in authoritarian societies and is a practice which dates back into ancient times, as far back as ear ...

National Civic Council The National Civic Council (or NCC) is a Conservatism in Australia, conservative Christian lobby group in Australia, founded by B.A. Santamaria in the 1940s. The NCC publishes a weekly magazine, ''News Weekly''. The NCC promotes policy based on S ...

References

External links

Articles by Babette Francis
{{Christianity in Australia Religious organisations based in Australia Christian advocacy groups Christian organisations based in Australia Organisations based in Melbourne Anti-abortion organisations in Australia Christian organizations established in 1979 1979 establishments in Australia Women's organisations based in Australia