The first family planning clinic ever established in Great Britain, the Mother's Clinic for Constructive Birth Control was established by British author, birth control campaigner and women's rights activist
Marie Stopes with her husband Humphrey Verdon Roe in March 1921 and operated virtually uninterrupted until 1975 on the same premises at number 61, Marlborough Road in Holloway, North London. Operating in later years as the Marie Stopes Foundation, in 1975 the organization found itself
bankrupt and entered
voluntary administration. It was taken over by Population Services Family Planning Programme Ltd, the European branch of
Population Services International (PSI), under the direction of British physician
Tim Black, who re-founded the organisation as a
social business named Marie Stopes International in 1976. In 1992, it set up Options Consultancy Services, a wholly owned subsidiary headquartered in the United Kingdom, stating that it is a "provider of technical expertise, short-term consultancy and long-term management services in the health and the social sectors". In 2000, Marie Stopes opened in Australia, trading under Marie Stopes Australia. It is the only national, independently accredited safe abortion, vasectomy and contraception provider in the country. In 2008, Marie Stopes International opened in Mexico City state, where legislative change enabled improved access to abortion services. == Controversy ==