Asked by: Lord Morrow (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much of the £225 million in funding per annum the Department for International Development committed to spend on family planning from 2017 until 2021 they estimate (1) has been, and (2) will be, spent on (a) the provision of contraceptives, (b) the provision of safe abortions, and (c) the training of health personnel to conduct safe abortions.
Answered by Lord Bates
In 2012 the UK committed to spend an average of £180m a year on family planning (FP) to 2020. This commitment then increased to £225m per year after the 2017 Family Planning Summit. Since 2012, using internationally agreed methodology to capture spending on family planning, we have spent an average of £184 million each year on family planning programmes between 2012/13 – 2016/17. We take an integrated approach to family planning and the training of health workers, covering a range of services, and therefore it is not possible to disaggregate spend on specific elements such as safe abortion provision.
Asked by: Lord Morrow (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many unsafe abortions were avoided as a result of the Prevention of Maternal Death from Unwanted Pregnancy project, which came to an end in June 2018.
Answered by Lord Bates
Modelling estimates indicate that the Prevention of Maternal Death from Unwanted Pregnancy project helped to avert approximately 7.1 million unsafe abortions through integrated sexual and reproductive health services over the lifetime of the programme.
Asked by: Lord Morrow (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many safe abortions they provided funding for through the Prevention of Maternal Death from Unwanted Pregnancy project.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Prevention of Maternal Death from Unwanted Pregnancy programme aimed to help women and girls avoid recourse to unsafe abortion and to increase access to voluntary family planning.
The programme supported integrated sexual and reproductive health services designed around women’s needs, for example providing a woman with holistic care for 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.
Modelling estimates are that the project helped to avert 7.1 million unsafe abortions through such approaches over the lifetime of the programme. This is the estimated impact of holistic approaches including contraception, information and provision of safe alternatives; all of which help women avoid having to go through the trauma and life-threatening health risks of unsafe abortions.
Asked by: Lord Morrow (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what methods they use to measure how many unsafe abortions have been averted through the programmes that they fund internationally.
Answered by Lord Bates
DFID uses modelling to estimate the number of unsafe abortions prevented by some programming. It is possible to model, for illustrative purposes, the number of abortions prevented by improved access to family planning specifically. Between April 2017 and March 2018, we estimate UK aid reached at least 14 million women and girls with family planning services, preventing an estimated 1.2 million unsafe abortions.
Our methodology is explained in the first footnote to the Family Planning page at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfid-results-sector-pages-2017-to-2018-single-department-plan