Marie Stopes International’s (MSI) chief executive, earned a 100% performance-related bonus on his salary in 2018, effectively rewarding him for increasing the number of abortions MSI undertook. According to accounts released by Companies House in August, Simon Cooke earned £217,250 as his basic salary which was doubled to £434,500.
MSI performed 4.8 million abortions in 2018 across the 37 countries in which they operate. This figure is up from 4.1 million the previous year, an increase of 17.1%. In the UK, MSI performed approximately a third of all abortions.
Government funds murder
The accounts also show MSI had an income of £296.8 million, receiving over £48 million in 2018 from the Department for International Development, who remain their single largest donor.
Cooke is in the top-ten highest earners in the charity sector. MSI have suffered a series of scandals in the past few years where inspectors found ‘dead foetuses lying in an open bin’; evidence of high-pressure sales tactics to get women to have abortions; and cases of doctors pre-signing consent forms. MSI have set themselves a target of performing 5 million abortions in 2019.
University College London is considering removing a plaque to Marie Stopes at the university due to her racist and eugenic views.
