Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many of the 4.1 million abortion procedures Marie Stopes International undertook in 2017 were funded by the UK taxpayer.

DFID takes an integrated approach to our programming on sexual and reproductive health and rights in order to meet a wide range of women’s reproductive health needs - for example providing a woman with holistic care for gender-based violence, HIV, counselling, post-abortion care and information on family planning. Because these services are integrated, it is not possible to disaggregate figures solely relating to safe abortion procedures.

The aim of DFID’s work on sexual and reproductive health and rights is to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions, increase the use of voluntary family planning, and give women control over their own bodies and lives.