European Dignity Watch explained in its report that the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International are both “major beneficiaries” of EU funds, receiving millions of dollars for projects relating to “sexual and reproductive health.”
In its regulations on supporting developing countries, the European Union explicitly excludes abortion funding and multiple EU member states have stringent laws restricting the procedure.
However, both Planned Parenthood and Marie Stopes consider abortion to be a key part of “sexual and reproductive health.” Planned Parenthood has stated that one of its goals is a “universal recognition of a woman’s right to choose and have access to safe abortion.”
Based on documents and correspondence between the two abortion groups, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the European Commission, which functions as the executive body of the EU, the recent report gives examples of instances in which the abortion-supporting organizations received EU money for “reproductive and sexual health” projects.
In a project in Bolivia, Guatemala and Peru, which was given more than 1.7 million euros by the EU, Planned Parenthood and its member organizations distributed more than 1100 “emergency contraception units,” a term that it never defined, but one that is often used to describe early abortion-inducing drugs.
In addition, Marie Stopes provided training for “manual vacuum aspiration” abortions in its Papua New Guinea project, also heavily funded by the European Commission.