PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Developing Countries: Abortion (8 May 2019)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that there is (a) robust decision making in respect of reducing illegal abortions overseas and (b) no conflict of interest between Planned Parenthood which receives funding from his Department to reduce those abortions and the Guttmacher Institute which was founded by Planned Parenthood and is his Department's sole provider of figures on such abortions.

Asked by:
Sir John Hayes (Conservative)

The UK Government’s policy on safe abortion (found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safe-and-unsafe-abortion-uks-policy-position-on-safe-and-unsafe-abortion-in-developing-countries) takes an evidence-based, public health approach that aims to reduce death and disability caused by unsafe abortions. The UK is clear that the best way to avoid abortion is through giving women information and contraception, so they can decide whether, when and how many children to have. Therefore, the primary aim and vast majority of our investment in reproductive health is to increase uptake of voluntary family planning, which helps reduce demand for abortion.

The UK funds the International Planned Parenthood Federation to work in developing countries, rather than the Planned Parenthood Federation of America which founded, but is now separate from, the Guttmacher Institute. There is no conflict of interest arising from UK Government support.

Answered by:
Dame Harriett Baldwin (Conservative)
15 May 2019