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OTTAWA, April 15, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On the same day Pope Francis called abortion “an abominable crime,” a Catholic school in Ontario raised over $1,100 for a secular organization that heavily promotes “family planning” to teens, advocates for abortion access, and promotes the abortifacient “morning-after pill.”

On Friday St. Rita Catholic School in the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB) raised $1,124.30 for Save the Children, an international charity founded in 1919 in Britain that promotes children's rights and provides humanitarian relief.

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But Save the Children, not to be confused with Free the Children, also promotes the abortifacient “morning-after pill” and has produced a document urging that teenagers be given access to abortion without parental consent. In a 2013 report the organization laments that abortion remains illegal in some countries.

The organization also heavily promotes “family planning” to teens, and argues that by doing so it saves children’s lives. At the Gates Foundation’s London Summit on Family Planning the organization pledged to “stimulate demand” for contraception.

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The OCSB changed its partnership policy last year in response to concerned parents who were outraged about numerous problematic partnerships and events at the board. The revised policy now states that “Catholic Social and Moral Teaching” will direct partnerships.

When LifeSiteNews asked the OCSB why St. Rita School raised money for an organization not in line with its partnership policy, spokesperson Mardi de Kemp declined to comment.

The OCSB has come under fire recently over its partnership with Free the Children, founded by Ontario Catholic school alumni Marc and Craig Kielburger.

Last month, in response to a concerned Ottawa parent, the bishops of Kenya urged Canadian Catholics to cease financially supporting Free the Children’s Baraka Health Clinic in their country because it stocks and provides contraceptives.

De Kemp, the OCSB’s spokeswoman, responded by saying, “Our position has not changed on our Board's association with Free the Children.”