The Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pro-Life Issues has called on the Government to stop all international development funding to Marie Stopes International (MSI).

Fiona Bruce MP for Congleton tabled the Early Day Motion (EDM) which notes that MSI has performed almost 5million abortions in 2018 alone.

It also notes that the group has had its UK Govt funding increased by over 5,000 per cent in the last 12 months to more than £48m in 2018.

This means the UK taxpayer is the largest donor to the organisation.

In recent years, there have been a number of disturbing stories about MSI.

Evidence emerged of MSI performing illegal abortions in countries that have pro-life policies; there was also the case of one woman who bled to death after having an abortion in one of MSI's London clinics.

The motion also refers to a highly critical report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact which strongly criticised MSI for favouring abortion funding at the expense of providing funding for the delivery of quality maternal care programmes.

At the same time, the Charity Commission is investigating MSI for giving its Chief Executive, Simon Cooke a total salary package in excess of £400,000. Such a high salary would have put Mr Cooke in the top-10 of earners in the charity sector.

The EDM also notes that polling by ComRes has shown that 65 per cent of the British population are opposed to taxpayer’s money being used to fund overseas abortions.

What are Early Day Motions?

EDMs are used by MPs to flag up certain topics and campaigns for debate. The majority of EDMs only attract one or two signatures.

There is no specific time allocated to EDMs and so very few end up being debated. But they can generate significant media and public interest.