{"id":234814,"date":"2020-11-19T13:34:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T19:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=234814"},"modified":"2021-07-14T21:40:59","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T02:40:59","slug":"uk-marie-stopes-abortion-name-distance-eugenics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/uk-marie-stopes-abortion-name-distance-eugenics\/","title":{"rendered":"UK’s Marie Stopes abortion chain changes name to distance itself from eugenics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UK’s abortion chain Marie Stopes International (MSI) has announced a name change in an effort to distance itself from the eugenicist for whom it was named. According to a press release<\/a>, Marie Stopes International will now do business under the moniker “MSI Reproductive Choices.” While the organization claimed<\/a> the name change had been under review for some time, it pointed to “the\u00a0events of\u00a0the past year\u00a0and\u00a0the critical global\u00a0conversations\u00a0about\u00a0race and diversity” which it said “reinforced\u00a0to\u00a0us\u00a0that changing\u00a0our name\u00a0now\u00a0is the right decision.”<\/p>\n

The move comes shortly after Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion corporation in the U.S., finally acknowledged its own founder’s history of racism and white supremacy, and faces accusations of\u00a0racism<\/a> from current and former employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarie Stopes\u00a0was\u00a0a… supporter of\u00a0the\u00a0eugenics\u00a0movement\u00a0and\u00a0expressed\u00a0many\u00a0opinions which\u00a0are in stark contrast to MSI\u2019s core values\u00a0and principles,\u201d said Simon Cooke,\u00a0Chief Executive of\u00a0MSI Reproductive Choices, in the press release.<\/p>\n

However, a name change cannot erase MSI’s controversies, such<\/a> as\u00a0numerous scandals<\/a>, including the promotion<\/a> of illegal abortions in Kenya and the unfortunate death of a patient in 2018. According to Right to Life UK<\/a>, a\u00a02017 report<\/a>\u00a0from the UK\u2019s Care Quality Commission (CQC) accused the abortion group of paying staff bonuses for persuading women to have abortions.\u00a0In 2016, MSI was\u00a0forced<\/a>\u00a0to “suspend abortion services for a month after an\u00a0unannounced inspection<\/a>\u00a0by the CQC\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0\u201cdead foetuses lying in an open bin and staff trying to give a vulnerable, visibly distressed woman an abortion without her consent.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marie Stopes, eugenicist – UK abortion chain<\/p><\/div>\n

Stopes founded Britain’s first birth control clinic in 1921 in North London until it later relocated to Whitfield Street in central London.\u00a0Upon her death in 1958,\u00a0Eugenics Review author<\/a>\u00a0Vera Houghton claimed that Stopes bequeathed the Whitfield Street clinic to the Eugenics Society.\u00a0In November of 1975, the building was purchased<\/a> by\u00a0Tim Black.\u00a0Archived history pages<\/a>\u00a0of MSI (2010<\/a>, 2011<\/a>, and\u00a02012<\/a>) show that MSI “grew out of the organisation originally set up by Marie Stopes in 1921.”<\/p>\n

MSI<\/a>\u00a0points out that Stopes did not actually found MSI. It was named after her “legacy… of family planning”:<\/p>\n

Marie Stopes was not our founder. Our organisation was started in 1976 by\u202fDr\u00a0Tim Black, Jean Black and Phil Harvey, who opened their first clinic on the site of the original Marie Stopes\u2019\u202fMothers Clinic\u202fin central London. They\u00a0named the organisation in recognition of the origins of that historic building and Marie Stopes\u2019 legacy as a pioneer\u00a0of family planning.\u00a0However,\u00a0Marie Stopes\u00a0herself was also an advocate of eugenics\u00a0and expressed\u00a0opinions\u00a0which\u00a0are in stark contrast to MSI\u2019s\u00a0core\u00a0values\u00a0and principles today.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more here<\/a> on MSI co-founder Phil Harvey, who funds and promotes abortions worldwide through his pornography business.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Authorities arrest \u2018fake\u2019 doctors in Kenya for illegal abortions at franchise run by Marie Stopes<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Marie Stopes, the eugenicist<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stopes had more than a legacy of “family planning.” She\u00a0was a member of the Eugenics Society who advocated for the sterilization<\/a> of the so-called “unfit.” She also founded the Society and Clinic for Constructive Birth Control and Racial Progress (CBC) which\u00a0included<\/a> Henry Pratt Fairchild, who\u00a0was\u00a0a past\u00a0president<\/a>\u00a0of the American Eugenics Society and a vice-president of the American Birth Control League, which later became Planned Parenthood<\/a>. In 1938, Fairchild also sat on the board<\/a> of the National Society for the Legalization of Euthanasia.<\/p>\n

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Marie Stopes Society and Clinic for Constructive Birth Control and Racial Progress<\/p><\/div>\n

According to Dr. Brian Clowes, director of research at\u00a0HLI<\/a>, two of the basic principles of Stopes’ CBC were these:<\/p>\n