HL Deb 27 February 1998 vol 586 c120WA
Lord Braine of Wheatley

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are satisfied that the funds they provide to organisations involved in the provisions of services, advice and information on reproductive health are not used by those organisations to campaign for the liberalisation of the abortion laws in Great Britain or abroad. [HL711]

Baroness Jay of Paddington

The Government do not fund any organisation to campaign for or against abortion. Funding, via the Section 64 schemes and equivalent Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish schemes, is provided to assist national voluntary organisations with their central administrative costs. A number of grants are also awarded for projects which are innovative and of potential national significance, or which further the department's policy objectives by developing a particular pattern of service.

The Department for International Development funds a number of organisations involved in the provision of services, advice and information on reproductive health in poorer countries, including the United Nations Population Fund and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. These organisations are opposed to the promotion of abortion as a method of family planning.

We are not aware of any organisation receiving funding using it to campaign for the liberalisation of abortion laws in Great Britain or abroad.