UK is implicated in illegal abortions in Kenya

Calls for an urgent review of UK-funded abortion services in Kenya have been dismissed by the Government.

Cross-bench peer Lord Alton of Liverpool wants the Department for International Development (Dfid) to investigate claims aid money is being used to perform illegal abortions in the East African country.

Dfid has denied the antiabortion campaigner’s claims of illegal abortion and said the money had only been used for legal emergency abortion, which had now been suspended.

Lord Alton said: “I am calling on the Government to undertake an urgent inquiry into allegations that Marie Stopes International is performing illegal abortions in Kenya.

“They need to determine as a matter of urgency whether Marie Stopes International, which receives millions in UK taxpayer funding each year, is in fact promoting and performing abortions contrary to the law in Kenya. Last week Marie Stopes International was issued with a cease and desist letter by the Kenyan Medical Board banning it from offering abortion services.”

Lord Alton said the charity had already been censured for appearing to offer abortion outside the current law in Kenya, which states abortions are only permitted when a trained health professional judges the life or health of the mother is in danger or in cases of emergency. The peer called on the Government to invest in maternity services and accused the family planning service of continuing “colonisation” of Africa.