Marie Stopes International has said that one of Donald Trump’s first actions as President of the United States has left it with a $30m (£23m) annual funding gap due to his anti-abortion policy.
The US government’s Mexico City Policy, which Trump signed an executive order to re-introduce, bans state funding for any international organisations that either perform or actively promote abortion.
Simon Cooke, chief executive of Marie Stopes, said in the introduction the charity's recently filed accounts for the financial year ending December 2016, that his organisation refuses to change its operations to continue receiving US state funding.
Cooke says the charity had been planning for the $30m funding gap prior to the policy announcement but it “was still a troubling development”.
He says: “The funding gap is likely to impact a number of our country programmes in 2017 and beyond and puts women’s right and access to safe abortion and contraception in jeopardy.”
Last year Marie Stopes recieved £23.8m from the United States Agency for International Aid, which administers foreign aid on behalf of the US government.
Highest ever income
Meanwhile, the charity recorded its highest ever income of £290m last year, a more than £20m rise from the previous year, its accounts show.
Marie Stopes’ income from restricted funds dropped slightly but its unrestricted funds rose by £26m.
Its largest single funder remained the Department for International Development, which provided £46.5m of mostly restricted funding last year, down slightly from 2015.
Income from the charity’s sexual and reproductive healthcare services rose by £7m year-on-year.
The charity’s expenditure rose from £256m in 2015 to £280m last year, with its staff costs increasing from £114m to £130m.
Cooke added: “2016 was the most successful year in our history for helping women to have children by choice, not chance.
“We estimate that the services we provided averted 7.6m unintended pregnancies, 4.8m unsafe abortions and 21,600 maternal deaths, and saved countries where we operate £311m in direct healthcare costs.”
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