MSI Reproductive Choices
Mission: To enable women around the world to choose when they have children. | |
Type: | NGO |
Areas: | Family Planning services |
Acronym: | MSIChoices |
Legal Status: | Charity No.265543 |
Founded: | 1976 |
Founder: | Tim Black, Jean Black, Phil Harvey |
HQ: | London, UK |
Funding: | Fully disclosed |
MSIChoices.org, MSIChoices.org.uk | |
@MSIchoices | |
@MSIReproductiveChoices | |
MSI Reproductive Choices | |
msichoices | |
MarieStopesInt | |
Page Contents |
MSI Reproductive Choices, formerly § Marie Stopes International, is an international non-governmental organisation providing contraception and safe abortion services in 37 countries around the world. MSI Reproductive Choices lobbies in favour of access to abortion, and provides a variety of sexual and reproductive healthcare services including advice, vasectomies, and abortions in the UK and other countries where it is legal to do so. It is based in London, and is a registered charity under English law.[1]
MSI has grown from owning a single centre in central London to operating a network of ~500 centres worldwide; it runs contraceptive programmes in 17 countries, including India, Kenya, Nepal, Uganda and Australia.
Timelines
Marie Stopes' pioneering ideas and work in the family-planning field, started in 1921, led to Marie Stopes International becoming a world-wide organisation. In Nov.2020, the organisation dropped the direct reference to "Marie Stopes" by changing its name to MSI Reproductive Choices, attempting to distance itself from the politically-incorrect woman herself, who had advocated eugenics - a very common view of her time.
MSI Reproductive Choices
- Nov.2020: MSI Reproductive Choices: Marie Stopes International and Marie Stopes UK changed their names in response to modern "politically correct" views on eugenics, which were "in stark contrast" to the organisation's values. The move had been under discussion for a while.[2]
Marie Stopes had been a eugenics supporter, as well as a fierce opponent of interracial marriage - views which were very common at the time.[3][4]
Marie Stopes International
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Origins
- 1975: The Marie Stopes Foundation went bankrupt and entered voluntary administration.[9]
- 1960s: Tim Black and his friend Phil Harvey, (founder of family-planning charity DKT International), went into business selling condoms through the post, which was illegal at the time, leading to many years of protracted legal battles with the USA Govt.[11]
- 1930: National Birth Control Council, now known as the Family Planning Association, was formed.
- 1925: Marie Stopes House: The clinic moved to Whitfield Street in Central London, where it remains today as Marie Stopes International's flagship clinic in the UK.
- Mar.1921: The Mothers' Clinic: Marie Stopes and her husband, Humphrey Roe, opened the UK's first family planning clinic in North London. The clinic offered a free service to married women and also gathered scientific data about contraception. The clinic was an instant success with women, but drew angry criticism from the male-dominated medical establishment and the Catholic church.[12]
- 1918: Married Love, a book on human sexuality, was published. It was both a sensation and a best-selling success, despite the idea that women might enjoy sex scandalised much of the social establishment. In response to the flood of requests for more information, Wise Parenthood, the nearest one could get to being a contraceptive guide at the time, was published later in the year.[12]
Articles
The Charity Commission criticised Marie Stopes International on the latest pay package awarded to the charity’s chief executive. remuneration package for 2018, which amounted to £434,000, and included a significant bonus payment.[13]
References
- ^ MSI Reproductive Choices. Charity Commission for England & Wales. Accessed Dec.05.2020.
- ^ Abortion provider changes name over Marie Stopes eugenics link. BBC News, Nov.17.2020.
- ^ Marie Stopes charity changes name in break with campaigner's view on eugenics. The Guardian, Nov.17.2020.
- ^ Abortion charity Marie Stopes changes its name to distance itself from links to eugenics and Nazis. Daily Mail, Nov.17.2020.
- ^ MSI opens first centre in Mexico City. Marie Stopes International. Original archived on Jun.26.2008.
- ^ Marie Stopes Australia: About us. Marie Stopes Australia. Accessed Dec.10.2020.
- ^ Options: Our History. Options Consultancy Services Ltd. Accessed Dec.12.2020.
- ^ Tim Black: Forceful pioneer of birth control in developing countries who never shied away from controversy. The Times, Dec.12.2014.
- ^ a b About us: History. Marie Stopes International. Original archived on Apr.14.2013.
- ^ History: How Marie Stopes International began. Marie Stopes International. Original archived on Aug.20.2008.
- ^ Sex Aid: Porn to Save the Third World. Phil Harvey built a porn empire to save the Third World. Steve Almond, AlterNet, Jul.22.2002. Original archived on May.07.2012.
- ^ a b Marie Stopes: Family Planning Pioneer, 1880-1958. Marie Stopes International. Original archived on Jan.11.1998.
- ^ Charity regulator criticises international charity over CEO pay decision. Concerns were raised about the amount and structure of the CEO’s remuneration package for 2018, which amounted to £434,000, and included a significant bonus payment. Charity Commission for England & Wales, Gov.uk, Dec.20.2019.