Marie Stopes International is an International Non-Governmental Organisation working on Sexual and Reproductive Health with headquarters in London, UK. It is named after Marie Stopes, a Scottish author, campaigner for eugenics, women's rights, and a pioneer in the field of family planning. Marie Stopes is a pro-choice organisation, and provides a variety of sexual and reproductive healthcare services including advice, vasectomies, and abortions in the UK.
In 2010, Marie Stopes International's 629 centres, across 40 countries provided seven million couples with health services, including family planning; safe abortion & post-abortion care; maternal & child health care including safe delivery and obstetrics; diagnosis & treatment of sexually transmitted infections; and HIV/AIDS prevention.[1]
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Marie Stopes International estimated that the services they provided in 2010 prevented approximately:
4.8 million unintended pregnancies; 13,600 maternal deaths; 1.3 million unsafe abortions; and 3.1 million disability adjusted life-years (DALYs) [2] 1234
Marie Stopes International runs contraceptive social marketing programmes in 17 countries - such as the Kushi contraceptive pill and injectable in India,[3] Raha condom and Smart Lady emergency contraceptive pill in Kenya,[4] Lifeguard condom in Uganda[5] and Snake condom in Australia aimed at the Aboriginal market.[6]
In 2008, Marie Stopes International opened in Mexico City State where legislative change has enabled improved access to abortion services.[7]
Marie Stopes International was displeased at the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, saying "It looks like this particular cardinal will continue with the line on contraception, condoms, and HIV prevention that Pope John Paul II had. It's regrettable because that will impact so terribly on the lives of millions of people, particularly in the developing world."[8]
Edward C. (Ted) Green, past Senior Research Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, is cited in the article on him in Wikipedia as supporting the pope's emphasis, including monogamy and circumcision, while arguing that the secular and biomedical approaches are not proved to have been successful, since, for example, emphasis on condoms promotes the promiscuity that promotes HIV AIDS. The pope has in effect gone along with Green's point that use of condoms can be of secondary assistance in preventing the spread of AIDS.