Sunday 18 July 2010

UK Government's £407 million pledged to international abortion agency

Today is the Feast Day of the 'Solemnity of The Most Holy Redeemer' - a very special day for the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (F.SS.R).
Here on Stronsay, we had a beautiful sung Mass - no.2 in the Liber Usualis (Kyrie fons bonitatis), with the Proper of the Mass, and motet for 3 voices - 'Panis Angelicus' by Casciolini. The Mass was celebrated by Fr Anthony Mary F.SS.R, with Fr Michael Mary F.SS.R and the Brothers in attendance. (See 'Transalpine Redemptorist' link on side-bar)
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 'Render to God the things that are God's, and to Caesar the things that are Caesar's'


£47,000,000 Grant over 5 years, by UK AID to fund ‘sexual and reproductive health and rights for all’ PLUS
£360,000,000 over 2 years, from UK, promised by Prime Minister, David Cameron, at G8 Summit 2010, for the same purpose. 
  http://www.ippf.org/en/Resources/Statements/G8+Maternal+Health+Initiative+must+include+funding+for+family+planning.htm


What do we think about this?    
 With the government looking  to save money, one department surely deserving of scrutiny must be the ‘Department for International Development (DFID)’, responsible for distributing UK Aid (taxpayer’s money) to worthwhile causes overseas. One particular organisation, little known to most people, the recipient of huge funding from the UK and other western governments, is the ‘International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)’. 

‘IPPF is a global service provider and a leading advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all’.  This rather grand statement could be interpreted as 'a global supplier of  contraceptives and  abortion facilities, and access to these - particularly for women in poor countries.' 
 

 Founded by the American birth-control activist and founder of the American Birth Control League, Margaret Sanger, in 1952,  IPPF has six Regional Offices, with headquarters in London, employing over 300 people, and with  a global network of Member Associations in over 170 countries.  It is no coincidence that the origins of IPPF can be traced back to the Eugenics movement of the early 20th century, when contraception and abortion were regarded  as a means of population control, especially in those countries now considered third world countries, and with euthanasia proposed for certain ‘mentally retarded and  criminal elements of society’.

Bitter opponents of the Catholic Church and ‘pro-life’ and ‘anti-abortion’ organisations, the IPPF presents a liberal and humanist ethos.  It receives financial support from the governments of most Western nations, particularly from the Scandinavian countries, from  the USA,  Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, with  wealthy  philanthropic organisations like the Bill Gates Foundation, providing a substantial and continuing flow of income.

For the period 1st April 2008 - 1st March 2013, the UK government  approved a Grant of £43,000,000  to support the ‘core work objectives of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).’ In addition, at the G8 Summit meeting this year, David Cameron pledged an additional £360,000,000 aid over 2 years.  Additionally the UK government made a further Grant of £4,000,000  for the ‘IPPF Safe Abortion Action Fund’(SAAF)  for the period 01/03/2007 to 01/03/2009, a  fund  for the ‘increased utilisation of quality safe abortion and post abortion services, especially by young, poor, and vulnerable women’  
 SAAF
 Additionally, £46,525 was paid into the same Fund for the period 01/04/2009 to 31/05/2009.                   

 The IPPF is a registered UK charity, with 11 of its employees earning £60,000 plus P.A.,  7 earning £100,000 plus P.A., and the top earner on £228,000 P.A. 
 http://www.ippf.org/NR/rdonlyres/32AEAA76-7D95-49Financial Statements 2009


The IPPF is not part of any government sector, and there appear to be no conditions attached to the grants.
 The funding is for ‘procurement of services relating to population policies/programmes and reproductive health care’ worldwide.Its purpose and objective is geared to population control, with a projected policy of contraception and abortion for young, poor and vulnerable women, particularly in Third World and poorer countries.  It has a commercial arm dealing in the marketing and supply of contraceptives.             


An official partnership programme between DFID and IPPF has been set up, in which the DFID’s  Policy Division  ‘recognises the specific role of IPPF in implementing DFID policy in the areas of sexual and reproductive health and rights, AIDS and maternal health, requiring sustained high-level advocacy work and international leadership in a difficult policy environment’    (N.B.. It appears from the DFID website that the current £47,046,525 funding went solely to projects in Bangladesh) http://www.dfid.gov.uk

I’m sure that most reasonable people would agree, that as a nation and where possible, we must help those less fortunate than ourselves. To provide funds to feed the starving, home the homeless, help those suffering from the effects of war or natural disasters, bring hope to the despairing, and other similar situations, are all clearly good causes. However the provision of ‘contraception and abortion facilities’, is not in this category. Tax-payers have a legitimate interest in the beneficiaries of these huge grants, after all it is their money that the government is giving away, and very many on religious and/or ethical grounds consider this an evil cause, as I do, with many others, on purely rational grounds, opposed to such 'open-handed generosity' in today's difficult economic climate.

 The government has asked for our views on saving their (our) money. A letter or e-mail to one of the Ministers listed below, complaining of  a) the use to which these very substantial Grants will be put; b) the nature of the organisation to which the Grants are made; and  c) the very significant sums of (tax-payers) money funding these Grants, money which could be better used supporting our own fragile public services such as health, education, housing, employment, etc. - would seem called for. If these fact were more generally known I believe that there would be public outrage. The government must be called to account - this funding must stop.
Secretary of State for International Development - Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP 
Minister of State for International Development - Alan Duncan MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development - Stephen O'Brien MP 


 ‘There are three kinds of lies -  lies, damned lies, and statistics' (attributed to various sources).

  The following statement was made by Gill Greer, IPPF Director General, concerning  promises of further financial funding made at the G8 Summit this year:-
 “This is a significant step forward in saving the lives of world’s most vulnerable women and children. Ideological motivations meant that life saving family planning was purposefully omitted from the Millennium Development Goals, and therefore many funding decisions, until 2008. In those eight years, the consequence of sidelining access to modern methods of family planning was the death of 5.1 million women and 1.2 million children. A further 4.8 million children were orphaned. The political leadership, and the funds that must surely follow, of the G8 and other countries will help prevent this human tragedy from ever occurring again.”
 http://www.ippf.org/NR/rdonlyres/32AEAA76-7D95-49F6-8665-9D50FB4F83E9/0/IPPFFinancialStatements2009.pdf


How can Gill Greer possibly guess, let alone present as fact, the mortality and orphan figures she quotes?   They appear as figures plucked from the lottery, impossible to check, impressive to those who want to be impressed, but otherwise wildly speculative.  She does not mention the possible number of unborn babies that would have been killed in one way or another, had modern methods of family planning been adopted 8 years previously. This quote, and the rest of the same IPPF report, throws out numbers like confetti at a wedding, and has the stamp of political spin. There is  no reference to the known adverse physical and psychological effects of contraception and abortion, or the moral or ethical issues involved.  


To conclude, with thanks to ‘Eugenics-Watch’ website
 
‘On one side are the rich and powerful eugenicists, the followers of Malthus by way of Darwin. These Scrooges think that there are too many sick, too many old, too many inferior, too many Chinese, too many Indians, too many, too many, too many people. They want to take evolution into their own qualified, elite, wonderful hands; they don't believe in the sanctity of life or in democracy, its political expression; and they have learned nothing from the series of social disasters which their policies have inflicted on this century - except to be careful not to get caught. That's one choice.
‘And on the other side, there are the orthodox Catholics who believe that the world was made by a great and loving Creator on behalf of persons, all of whom are immortal souls from the moment of conception. Catholics believe that the world has a Redeemer, Jesus Christ; and a mother to teach it unselfishness - the great Mother of God, Mary most holy. Therefore they oppose that degradation of human beings which is eugenics, and support democracy. That's another choice.’
 
                          

Recommended website for further information on Margaret Sanger, eugenicism, and the IPPF        -      http://www.trdd.org

 N.B.   Please also see website for 'Les Femmes - the Truth', who   has an interesting current post on Margaret Sanger; there is a link to this website on my sidebar.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Umblepie
Thank you for this post. It is shocking, and I mean truly shocking, to know that we spend such vast sums on contraception, abortion & sterilation in far away countries. £407.000 000!

The popular Green respect for life-forms and the planet are attempts at finding some pacification for consciences that have become perverted and guilty of the greatest possible contempt for human life everywhere and especially the lives of our neighbours.

umblepie said...

Anonymous,
Thank you. An interesting point you raise concerning the Green movement. As you say,for so many people 'human life' comes bottom on their list of priorities, except of course for their own life!

Anonymous said...

Brian, thank you for raising awareness of this shocking -- well, not so shocking, really -- action of the UK Government. It's probably just a drop in the bucket, though, compared to what the US Government spends in promoting the twisted legacy of Margaret Sanger throughout the world (all in the name of "compassion", of course).

I just watched the YouTube video of you chanting Panis Angeligus with the FSSR brothers during the Feast of the Holy Redeemer. How wonderful! I hope that many more such videos are posted in the future. I will be sure to promote the Panis Angelicus video on my blog today.

God bless!
David

~~Just Me in T~~ said...

In an act of love, a married couple have sexual intercourse, a wonderful time of intimacy, during which, if the biological ‘time’ is ripe, the male sperm will impregnate the female ovum and a new life will be conceived.

At no time during that act of intimacy can I imagine the (soon to be) parents shouting ‘STOP’ —– ‘what if this new life is deformed physically or mentally, will we abort it?’.

http://justmeintchristian.blogspot.com/2010/07/life-precious-gift.html

umblepie said...

'Just me in T'
I'm not quite sure what you mean here, if you are asking whether abortion is right if the unborn child appears to have some sort of mental or physical defect, the answer is 'no'. Abortion is killing the unborn child, is evil and is always wrong. Every child is a unique gift from God, a pearl from God's hands. Life is God's to give and God's to take away. Loving and caring for a disabled child must be very demanding, but also I'm sure very rewarding.God gives special strength and grace to parents of such children, and this is their 'Way of the Cross'- a sharing of Christ's passion, which if accepted willingly and lovingly in this life, will lead them to share the joys of Christ's resurrection in the next. We all have our Cross, it is how we accept it in conformity to the will of God, that marks us out as followers of Christ. Best wishes.

umblepie said...

'Wheat for Paradise'
Thank you David, for your comment. Interesting post on Margaret Sanger on 'Les femmes - the truth'(link on my sidebar).It seems that the eugenicists still pursue their evil objectives, but under another name. Thanks also for your comment on the video-clip, the Brothers are stars!
I saw from your website, that your son has been ill. I do hope that he is now making a good recovery. With your wife away with him, and the depressing job situation for yourself, life must be tough. Keep smiling, things will get better. Slight change of subject, your USA football team did really well in the World Cup. They deserved on their performance, to get into the final rounds. They were a better side than England - faint praise, but true. I can see the 'stars and stripes, being up there with Spain and Brazil, next time round! Best wishes David, remember you and yours in our prayers. B.

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