Germany Denies Promoting Abortion Abroad—While Funding Pro-Abortion NGOs

The German federal government continues to channel millions of euros to international organisations that promote abortion, despite insisting that it does not support a right to abortion abroad.

According to a government response to a parliamentary inquiry by AfD MP Beatrix von Storch, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) alone received €63 million in German funding between 2022 and 2025. The money was paid as annual core contributions by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, ranging from €15 to €17 million a year, and was not earmarked for specific projects.

The government also acknowledged that IPPF has passed on $872,000 since 2022 to its Chinese member organisation, the China Family Planning Association. Officials stressed that Germany rejects forced abortions and sterilisations as violations of human rights and pointed to IPPF’s internal safeguarding standards. However, the government admitted that it does not systematically review the political positions or advocacy work of the organisations it funds.

Other recipients include MSI Reproductive Choices, formerly known as Marie Stopes International, which received more than €14 million between 2021 and 2025 for projects in countries including Yemen and Nigeria. The Population Council has also received German funding, with its largest programme—a €10 million initiative running from 2023 to 2028—focused on India and Africa.

In addition, the Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation, which promotes international LGBT policy, received around €950,000 between 2020 and 2024. Further payments of up to €200,000 per year are planned for 2025 and 2026.

Von Storch accused the government of a lack of transparency and called on the Christian Democrats to end the funding. She pointed to the contrast between Friedrich Merz’s record in opposition—when he submitted hundreds of parliamentary questions criticising state support for ideologically driven NGOs—and his current position as chancellor, arguing that his government is now defending the same policies it once attacked.

AfD MP Peter Felser echoed that criticism, saying the new government had abandoned its earlier stance. “The Merz administration is now defending the very policy it criticised just a few months ago,” he said. “This is political betrayal in its purest form.”

    

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This was first published on the European Conservative and is printed here with premission

   

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Photo by Svetlana Satsiuk / Shutterstock

       

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