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She was a champion who will be greatly missed.

One of Australia’s greatest pro-family, pro-life and pro-women campaigners has just passed away at age 93. While many champions can be singled out in Australia for their work in defending Christian and conservative values, surely Babette would be among the leaders here.

Let me begin with some details of her life. Born in India in 1930, she lived there for the next 22 years. She obtained a B.Sc. with Honours in Microbiology and Chemistry. On a ship to London she met Charles Francis, and they married on 28 October 1953, and they settled in Melbourne.

She was a mother of eight children. Charles, a barrister and Liberal Party politician, passed away in 2009. Babette is most known as a Catholic pro-family activist and champion. She started Endeavour Forum (originally called Women Who Want to be Women) in 1979. The Governor-General of Australia appointed her as a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

John Ballantyne, who has worked closely with her during her final years, just posted this:

It is with great sadness that I report that our beloved Babette Francis died peacefully in her sleep this morning with two of her children, Prue and Derek, beside her.

We pray that God will bless her immortal soul and comfort her family.

I’ve attached, FYI, some photos of Babette and a profile I wrote of her two years ago upon her being awarded the Order of Australia. The online version may be accessed here.

Grace and blessings,

John

Staunch Defender

Early on, Babette had been influenced by the work of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016), the founder of Eagle Forum. She was an attorney, a conservative activist, and a strong anti-feminist who was nationally prominent in the conservative movement in the US. The two of them had quite similar sorts of callings on their lives.

Two words that most often are associated with Babette and her work are “tireless” and “indefatigable”. She was constantly on the go to defend the values of marriage, family and life. She was such a champion on so many levels. People were always amazed at her energy and dedication to the cause.

In addition to all her activities here in Australia (editing a newsletter, writing articles for other publications, holding countless seminars and conferences, speaking at numerous events, lobbying, writing submissions, and so on), she was also a very important figure overseas.

For example, whenever some contentious family or life issues were being debated at the United Nations in New York, she would go as an Australian NGO representative. Often in conjunction with various voting blocs, such as the Vatican and Muslim nations, she and them could block or thwart radical feminist, homosexual and pro-abortion measures, initiatives and policies.

Let me share part of the profile that John wrote, as mentioned above:

It is noteworthy that Babette’s guest speakers have included people of the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths. Babette herself has been a regular speaker at America’s Eagle Forum, Human Life International world conferences in the USA and Canada, and the World Congress of Families in Prague and Geneva. In October 1995 she was invited by the Pontifical Council for the Family to chair the English language group’s discussion at the Third World Congress of Pro-Life Movements, held in Rome. She is also the Australian representative of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer.

Her international awards include receiving the U.S. Eagle Forum’s “Homemaker of the Year” for Australia (1988), the Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation’s “Motherhood Award for 1991”, and the World Congress of Families Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.

Many women have acknowledged that, but for Babette, they would never have got involved in public life. One of her oldest friends, Mrs Margaret Butts, recalls the occasion she and the late Mrs Prue Oldham first met Babette. She said: “We went along to hear her speak at a meeting, and we were so enthralled at what she was doing. And, because she had eight children, we thought, ‘Well, gosh, she needs help.’ So we decided we’d go and ask her if we could do her shopping and maybe do some work for her around the house.

“No, she didn’t want that! She wanted some others to be with her. And so, before we knew it, we were ordered to go overseas and take her place after two weeks that she had been there. “We were really young bunnies. But it’s just been a wonderful experience for me. It’s opened the whole world of other meetings.”

In addition to many popular level articles, she wrote well-documented research pieces as well. As but one example, consider this paper presented some 24 years ago:

Seventh Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference

Family futures: issues in research and policy: Sydney 24-26 July 2000

“Is Gender a Social Construct or a Biological Imperative?” by Babette Francis

Personal Connection

My Australian wife and I moved to Melbourne permanently back in 1989. Soon after arriving, I sought out conservative and Christian activists and organisations. Since my wife had known both Peter and Tim Costello from church youth groups, I caught up with Peter early on to ask him who I should get in touch with.

He mentioned stalwarts like B. A. Santamaria of the National Civic Council. He also mentioned Babette Francis of Endeavour Forum. I was soon attending her meetings. Quite soon thereafter, she had me speaking at her meetings and then I was asked to host some of them as well.

Speaking of Peter Costello, she did a great job of getting heavyweight politicians to come to her meetings and speak. These included Peter, John Anderson, Kevin Andrews, and Tony Abbott. I am pretty sure she had John Howard as well. Many of these important figures would quip at the meetings that when Babette asked (told) them to come, they promptly obeyed. She would not take no for an answer!

In the mid-1990s Babette, Joe Santamaria and I formed the Family Council of Victoria. This coalition of family and life groups still meets today. I often found myself attending national and international conferences with Babette. This included a World Congress of Families conference in Doha, Qatar.

A tribute for Babette was held in Melbourne late in November last year. John Ballantyne helped to lead the meeting, and a number of leaders came to recognise the important achievements of Babette. Right to Life New Zealand said this in part about the day:

Many community leaders, including former politicians, came together to pay tribute to the outstanding service of Mrs Francis. Catholic Bishop Peter Elliot, and CultureWatch’s Bill Muehlenberg led the tributes for Mrs Francis who has provided leadership for pro-life and conservative forces over the past 44 years.

The secretary of Endeavour Forum John Morrissey, chaired the meeting. He outlined the history of Endeavour Forum and told of how Mrs Francis initially formed `Women who Want to be Women’ to counter the rise of militant feminism with its push for abortion on demand and other socialist left demands.

Mr Morrissey said Mrs Francis had led many Australian delegations to the UN sponsored family conferences held in New York, USA. At the UN many fierce battles raged for control of UN policies between conservative forces led by Mrs Francis and Mrs Phyllis Schlafly, the founder of the influential American pro-life and conservative Christian movement, Eagle forum. He concluded by thanking Mrs Francis for her long and fruitful service.

Several years ago, Andrew Smith and I did a brief interview with her. You can see that 10-minute podcast here:

Babette will be sorely missed. She was a superstar whose influence will not be fully appreciated until we get to Heaven. Bless you, Babette.

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Republished with thanks to CultureWatch.