PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1300% increase in taxpayer funding for abortion giant Marie Stopes since Conservatives took power in 2010
21 November 2019 – Since the Conservatives took power in 2010, the Department for International Development (DfID) has increased its contributions to the abortion giant Marie Stopes International (MSI) by over 1300% from £3,231,000 in 2010 to £48,173,000 in 2018.
A very large portion of the abortion giant’s spending has been focussed on targeting their ‘services’ to countries in Africa.
Financial statements for the company found in Companies House reveal that since 2010 DfID has given almost £300 million worth of taxpayers’ money to MSI, with over three-quarters of that total given between 2014 and 2018. This enormous increase has made DfID the single biggest donor to Marie Stopes International.
DfID contributions to MSI account for over 16% of their entire £296,849,000 income in 2018. This represents a dramatic increase from 2010 where DfID provided only 2.49% of MSI’s income for that year.
The total financial contributions from DfID do not include any money the British Government provides for Marie Stopes’ abortion provision in the UK.
At the height of its contributions, the United States donated almost £24 million in 2016 to MSI, which is just over half the total contributions of the British Government for the same year.
This huge increase in DfID contributions comes at the same time as MSI performed almost 5 million abortions globally and rewarded its chief executive Simon Cooke a £217,250 bonus for doing so.
Mr Cooke’s impressive salary and bonus come off the back of a series of scandals in the past few years where inspectors found “dead foetuses lying in an open bin”; evidence of high-pressure sales tactics to get women to have abortions; and cases of doctors pre-signing consent forms.
In September, a Boris Johnson led Government provided an additional £600 million of taxpayer money for overseas “family planning”, which will include funding abortions.
The Government’s announcement was made following a recent Independent Commission for Aid Impact report which condemned DFID for favouring abortion funding at the expense of strengthening the delivery of quality maternal care programmes.
The pledge is the UK Government’s largest ever stand-alone spend of taxpayer money in this area and comes on top of the £1.1 billion already pledged over a 5 year period beginning in 2017.
Polling from Savant ComRes shows that 65% of the British population are opposed to taxpayer money being used to fund abortions overseas.
The release of the figures has come as Right To Life UK has launched a major general election campaign – the Vote For Both Lives campaign – a large-scale initiative that they will run throughout the country in the lead up to election day on 12th December.
MP candidates are being asked to sign the Both Lives Pledge, which outlines three policy changes that are designed to increase protection for babies in the womb and end pregnancy discrimination for women. Independent polling by Savanta ComRes shows that all three policy changes are strongly supported by the public.
Constituents are being encouraged to visit www.righttolife.org.uk/bothlives where it takes 30 seconds to ask their candidates to sign the Both Lives Pledge.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK Catherine Robinson said:
“The majority of the great increase in the contributions of the Department for International Development to this global abortion provider has occurred under the auspices of a Conservative Government.”
Polling has shown that 65% of the British population are opposed to taxpayer money being used to fund abortions overseas, yet every year since 2010 the British Government has given more and more money to MSI for this purpose.
There is no internationally recognised right to abortion, and the British Government, along with the UN, should not be acting as if there is. Many countries do not share the British Government’s views on abortion. They do not recognise abortion as a right to be promoted.
This is nothing short of neo-colonialism, where the British Government is using its resources to fund abortions in foreign nations.”
