UK: Abortion provider under fire for providing sexual health services to staff

The Mail on Sunday claims that Marie Stopes International is offering free abortions for staff as a ‘perk of the job’.

Marie Stopes International offers employees, their partners and children free abortions as part of its benefits package - which also includes cheap gym membership, reduced rates at theme parks and an annual health check for £10, the Mail on Sunday reported.

According to the organisation’s website, staff who work for Marie Stopes can claim a range of sexual health services free from their employer, including testing for sex­ually transmitted diseases such as HIV and syphilis. The website says: ‘Team members, their partners and dependants will be able to access MSI’s core services... without charge.’ It lists services such as sterilisation, testing for HIV and sexual infections, ultrasound, family planning and abortion.

The NHS offers free abortions, the Mail on Sunday notes, but some women prefer to pay privately to terminate as quickly as possible.

Josephine Quintavalle, of the Pro-Life Alliance, said: ‘Never famous for its sensitivity, Marie Stopes recently shared controversial TV advertising time with a selection of beer brands, rival supermarkets, hair products and well-known confectionary bars. So it is not surprising this crass organisation equates free abortions with gym membership as appropriate consumer perks for employees and their families.’

One worker at Marie Stopes told The Mail on Sunday: ‘What you get as a benefit of working here is access to medical services, not just abortions. It’s because we are a medical services provider that people who work here get access to those services. It’s not odd. It’s there if you have got a need. It’s a positive thing.’

Ann Furedi, chief executive of BPAS, said: ‘I wouldn’t post it as a perk of the job, but if we had staff requiring our services, we’d waive our fees. Unplanned pregnancy can happen to anyone, even those working in abortion services.’

Tracey McNeill, vice-president of UK and Western Europe Marie Stopes International, said: ‘As with the majority of health service employers, we subsidise a full range of health services for our staff including well-men and well-women health checks, contraception, cervical cancer screening, unplanned pregnancy advice and abortion. As a responsible employer, Marie Stopes International promotes a full range of sexual health information and contraception to our employees.’

Marie Stopes International added that it had been offering the free sexual health services to staff, including abortions, for a decade but it did not keep records to say how many workers had taken advantage of the benefit.

Anger as abortion provider Marie Stopes offers staff free terminations as ‘job perk’. Daily Mail, 8 August 2010