Liberal government funding organization that performs dangerous and illegal abortions overseas

Canadian pro-life group calls for funds to be allocated

OTTAWA, ON (June 26, 2018) – Opposition MP questions have revealed the Canadian government is funding an organization that performs illegal abortions overseas despite saying repeatedly they would not give money to any organization that engages in illegal activity. The organization in question is Marie Stopes International.

Both Marc Andre Fredette, Senior Official of Global Affairs Canada and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland responded to questions by MP Garnett Genuis during a recent meeting of the Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs affirming that the government does not fund organizations that are engaging in illegal acts, including illegal abortions.

However, under the Feminist International Assistance Policy in the 2018 federal budget, the government has given $15 million dollars over four years to Marie Stopes along with $4-million dollars that was pledged to the organization by International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau during the She Decides International Conference in Brussels last year.

“It is a well-known fact that Marie Stopes International performs illegal abortions. The organization’s senior officials have confirmed it,” said Alissa Golob, co-founder of RightNow, a non-profit organization committed to increasing voter intensity on life issues. “The organization is so irresponsible in their care for women, even their legal clinics have tragically been responsible for the deaths of healthy, young women due to their extreme negligence.”

In 2012, Marie Stopes International was found to have committed 490 illegal abortions in the span of 5 months in Zambia. The African Organization of Families have also threatened to take Marie Stopes to court for violating the Constitution of Kenya, which states that every person had the right to life and that the life of a person begins at conception. Paul Cornelissen, head of Marie Stopes in South Africa has even defended the organization’s use of “vocal local”,which are abortions performed on women without anesthesia, where a nurse instead “talks them through the pain.”

“The only thing worse than the Liberal government funding illegal abortions and lying about it is the fact that such an unethical and shady organization like this actually exists,” said Golob.

In 2016, surgical abortions on vulnerable women and girls under the age of 18 at a Marie Stopes International Clinic in the UK, were suspended due to concerns over patient safety. The Maidstone branch of the Marie Stopes clinic was also accused of having a “cattle market culture”, where staff felt “encouraged” to ensure women went through with abortions because it was “linked to their performance bonus”. Over 400 botched abortions were reported to have occurred over the span of 2 months at a Marie Stopes Clinic in the UK, where various women have died due to botched legal abortions.

“It’s disturbing that our Prime Minister professes to be a feminist and that the Liberal government totes abortion as a “core of foreign policy,” while simultaneously funding an organization that performs illegal procedures on women in other countries and is responsible for the deaths of women in the UK and beyond,” said Golob.  

RightNow is calling on the government to withhold and reallocate funds given to Marie Stopes International to organizations that are actually helping, not hurting, women in countries overseas through their foreign policy.  

About RightNow:

RightNow is a not-for-profit organization committed to increasing voter intensity, educating Canadians and lobbying politicians on the pivotal life issues facing our country today. Regardless of faith, politics or background, RightNow works with people across the country to stand up for human rights for all human beings.

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For interviews with RightNow, please contact RightNow Co-Founder and Executive Director Alissa Golob directly at 587-435-0166.