Save the Children is an international charity, founded in 1919 in Britain, which promotes children's rights and provides humanitarian relief.
In 2012 Save the Children published a report entitled: "Every woman's right: how family planning saves children's lives." The report was produced in the run-up to the London Summit on Family Planning, co-hosted by the Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK's Department for International Development (DFiD), with strong backing from the world's leading providers and promoters of abortion.
This summit sought to fundraise money to spend promoting contraceptives, including abortifacient drugs and devices, among the poorest in the developing world. This summit also gave rise to population control themes, along the lines of there being "too many" people e.g. poor people in the developing world. SPUC responded to this dangerous report with a series of researched press releases:
In a letter dated 23 March 2011, David Mepham, then Save the Children's director of policy, wrote: "We do not have a formal policy on abortion. Save the Children does not provide abortions in any of its programmes. However, we believe that there are circumstances when a woman must have the right to seek a safe abortion, for example when a pregnancy would risk her health. ... We do promote the use of and access to contraception including the morning after pill."
Blogposts
17/09/10: Save The Children blogpost on pregnancy in Liberia read: "Most adolescent pregnancies are unwanted and are more likely to end in induced unsafe abortions. The attitudes of parents and that of service providers in the public sector who are not willing to provide services to teenagers compounds their plight."
29/11/10: Save the Children blogpost read: "Save the Children is aiming to pilot a reproductive health education programme in Vietnam, to help teenagers make informed decisions, feel proud of who they are and protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies."
05/01/11: Save the Children blogpost read: "empowerment and rights are essential if women are able to control their fertility. No amount of services or "contraception education" will make a difference unless women’s legal and social status is changed. The UK is also to be congratulated for its strong stand on safe abortion, a controversial topic which needs powerful champions. We are pleased that girls’ education status is seen as vital to improving rights."
22/02/12: Save the Children blogpost on Malawi perpetuates the pro-abortion narrative about the need for liberalised abortion laws to supposedly reduce dangerous back-street abortion. The press release also reveals that Save the Children runs a youth project in Malawi which includes sexual and reproductive health (sex education and contraception) to youth as human rights.
Reports
Save the Children's "An Equal Start" report, 2011, includes the pro-abortion narrative about campaigning for liberal abortion laws in order to prevent mothers dying from dangerous back-street abortions. The report also criticises Peru’s 1997 Health Law because it "criminalises abortion"
Save the Children's "Charting the Future: Empowering girls to prevent early pregnancy" report, 2012, perpetuates the pro-abortion narrative that large numbers of women are having dangerous back-street abortions because of restrictive abortion laws and social attitudes. The report also says that "Greater effort needs to be made to make girls and healthcare providers aware of emergency contraception".
SPUC comment
Abortion is never safe and there are no circumstances in which abortion is necessary for women's health.
According to their manufacturers, hormonal contraceptives such as morning-after pills can act abortifaciently (i.e. cause an abortion), by preventing newly-conceived embryonic children from implanting in the womb of his or her mother. Therefore Save the Children can be said to facilitate and provide abortions if and when a hormonal contraceptive provided by them acts abortifaciently.
Please send any information you may have about this charity to SPUC, either by email to rhoslynthomas@spuc.org.uk or by post to SPUC HQ.