Britain continues to finance the culture of death around the world
Posted by Dan Blackman on
SPUC has previously drawn attention to the huge sums of money given to global abortion groups by the British government, normally through the government's Department for International Development (DFID).
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), Marie Stopes International (MSI) and IPAS are among the most devastating organisations promoting abortion throughout the world, in large part funded by the governments of the developed world, especially the UK, which is also home to the headquarters of IPPF and MSI.
Below is the parliamentary record (Hansard) of some questions recently asked by David Amess MP, precisely about British government funding of global pro-abortion organisations. The record is below, and will give you some idea of just how much our government in the UK is funding the killing of innocent unborn children throughout the world, not just in the UK. The key figures are in red and underlined.
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding her Department plans to give to the International Planned Parenthood Federation for (a) abortion, (b) family planning and (c) other reproductive health services in the next 12 months; what assessment she has made of the value for money of previous such expenditure since June 2010; and if she will make a statement.
Lynne Featherstone: DFID will provide up to £8.6 million to International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in 2013-14 through a Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA) to deliver high priority, safe family planning and reproductive health services for vulnerable women and girls. The Department for International Development (DFID) does not classify spending under the categories requested. All Programme Partnership Arrangements (PPAs) are expected to demonstrate value for money and our assessments to date show that the cost-effectiveness of International Planned Parenthood Federation is high.
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding her Department plans to give to Marie Stopes International for (a) abortion, (b) family planning and (c) other reproductive health services in the next 12 months; what assessment she has made of the value for money of such expenditure since June 2010; and if she will make a statement.
Lynne Featherstone: Marie Stopes International (MSI) will receive up to £4.35 million through a Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA) for the period 2013-14. The Department for International Development (DFID) does not classify spending under the categories requested. All Programme Partnership Arrangements (PPAs) are expected to demonstrate value for money. An independent review has recently concluded that MSI show outstanding commitment to maximising cost-effectiveness and have been using funds in exceptionally cost-effective ways.
Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will consider increasing the Official Development Assistance to population and reproductive health
Lynne Featherstone: The health and rights of girls and women are front and centre of Britain's development programme. That is why the Prime Minister hosted the London Summit on Family Planning last July—to galvanize the global community to support transformational change for women and girls. The summit's goal was to provide voluntary family planning information, services and supplies to an additional 120 million women and girls in 69 of the poorest countries by 2020.
The UK committed £516 million ($800 million) over eight years towards the summit goal. This is part of the UK's broader commitment to double investment in family planning from an average of £90 million per year since 2010, to £180 million per year for the next eight years.
The UK's Muskoka Commitment, made at the G8 summit in 2010, is focused on saving the lives of women in pregnancy and childbirth, of newborn babies and on enabling couples to access modern methods of family planning. To support this the UK has significantly increased overall aid for reproductive, maternal and child health programming from around £490 million in 2008-09 to £860 million in 2011-12, a 75% increase over the period and above the commitment we made at the Muskoka summit.
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what recent reports she has received on the uses of funding provided by her Department to the Government of the Philippines; whether any restrictions are placed on the use of such funding; and if she will make a statement;
(2) what proportion of aid provided by her Department to the Philippines was spent on reproductive health in each of the last five years; and how much her Department has allocated for such purposes in each of the next two years;
(3) whether she has received any reports of the use of funding provided by her Department to lobby the Government of the Philippines to change its laws on reproductive health; and if she will make a statement.
Lynne Featherstone: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not have a bilateral programme with the Philippines and is not providing direct assistance for health to the Government of the Philippines. DFID supports a multi-donor, global programme hosted by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to improve reproductive health and reduce recourse to unsafe abortion, and a number of non-governmental organisations working on reproductive health issues in the Philippines have received funding from this global IPPF programme. DFID receives regular reports on the programme from IPPF.
DFID provides broader assistance to the Philippines through its attributable contributions to multilateral organisations. This can be viewed on the Statistics on International Development on the DFID website. Due to the nature of the multilateral contributions it is not possible to confirm what proportion of the funding should be attributed to health.
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding was provided by her Department to (a) the United Nations Population Fund, (b) the International Planned Parenthood Federation and (c) Marie Stopes International for expenditure in the Philippines (i) in total and (ii) on reproductive health issues in each of the last two years; and if she will make a statement.
Lynne Featherstone: The Department for International Development (DFID) provides United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with £20 million of core funding each year.
DFID provided £8.6 million to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in 2011-12 and £9 million in 2010-11 through a Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA) grant.
DFID provided £4.35 million to Marie Stopes International (MSI) in 2011-12 through a PPA. MSI also received a £79,296 grant through the Civil Society Challenge Fund (CSCF) in 2010-11. DFID's funding to MSI is not earmarked for specific programmes. It is not possible to state what proportion of DFID funding to MSI was used in total or specifically on reproductive health issues in the Philippines in each of the last two years.