Catholic Relief Services Stored, Distributed Abortifacient Contraceptives in D.R. Congo, Report Claims
FRONT ROYAL, Va., Oct. 17, 2016 /
Christian Newswire/ -- A shocking new report released by the Lepanto Institute claims that Catholic Relief Services (CRS) was involved with the storage and distribution of over 2.25 million units of contraceptives as part of a U.S. Government funded health program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
CRS was found to have been an implementing partner of the USAID-funded AXxes Project between 2006 and 2010. The AXxes Project included family planning as a "key objective," and sought to increase contraceptive use in the DRC by providing "counseling on all methods" and by making "[family planning] commodities available at all [health centers]." While natural methods of birth spacing were widely promoted throughout the program, AXxes program reports show that millions of units of artificial contraceptives were also distributed to health centers in CRS's territory including oral contraceptive pills, IUDs, condoms, and the injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera®.
"It is unconscionable that Catholic Relief Services seems to have been directly involved with the distribution of abortifacient contraceptives and condoms in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," says Population Research Institute President Steven W. Mosher who has previously launched investigations into abuses in CRS programs in Madagascar and Kenya.
"The AXxes program reports are deeply troubling. The reports appear to show that CRS was involved with the storage and distribution of abortifacient contraceptives," Mosher says, "If it true that CRS was complicit with the provision of abortifacient contraceptives, it would be a great cause for scandal for the faithful."
In light of the allegations surrounding CRS's activity in the D.R. of the Congo, LifeSiteNews has launched a petition asking His Excellency Archbishop Coakley, chairman of the board for CRS, to prohibit CRS from partnering with organizations that promote abortion or contraception.
