The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to incinerate nearly $10 million worth of contraceptives that were originally purchased by the United States to support reproductive health programs in low-income countries. The stockpile, currently being transferred from a warehouse in Belgium to France for destruction, includes long-lasting contraceptive devices, emergency birth control, pills, and injections that health advocates say could have saved thousands of lives and prevented countless unintended pregnancies.
The Independent reported on July 29 that the supplies are being sent to a specialist facility in France to be destroyed, with the incineration process expected to cost U.S. taxpayers an additional $167,000. The products had been purchased for distribution through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) before the agency was dismantled by the Trump administration earlier this year. Although USAID officially closed on July 1, the State Department has taken over its functions and is now overseeing the destruction of the goods.
According to the nonprofit MSI Reproductive Choices, which provides reproductive healthcare in over a dozen countries, the items being destroyed represent nearly 20 percent of the United States’ annual global contraceptive aid. “The supplies have shelf lives extending well into 2027–2031—yet, despite being fit for use, nearly a decade ahead of expiration, they are being destroyed,” the organization said in a public statement.
MSI and other international organizations, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), offered to cover all costs associated with taking possession of the contraceptives—including repackaging, transport, and global distribution. These offers were repeatedly rejected by the U.S. government.
“We offered to purchase, repackage, and manage logistics at our expense, ensuring the products reach those in need. These efforts were repeatedly rejected,” MSI stated.
Government officials in Belgium and France also attempted to prevent the destruction. Belgium’s foreign ministry said it had “explored all possible options [with U.S. government officials] to prevent the destruction, including temporary relocation.” The ministry added, “Sexual and reproductive health must not be subject to ideological constraints.”
French lawmaker Soumya Bourouaha submitted an official inquiry to the prime minister urging the government to “do everything possible to save these contraceptive stocks and deliver them to the populations who need them.” Despite these efforts, the contraceptives are now in transit for destruction.
The State Department has claimed the products are “abortifacient birth control commodities from terminated Biden-era USAID contracts,” but this characterization has been widely disputed. CNN reported that it reviewed a list of the items, which includes copper IUDs, rod implants, birth control injections, birth control tablets, and emergency contraception tablets—none of which qualify as abortifacients.
A Democratic congressional aide told The Independent that members of their team visited the Belgian warehouse and found no abortion medications among the supplies. “It’s just not true that mifepristone or any of these abortion pills are in these warehouses. That’s completely false,” the aide said.
Experts say the destruction will have devastating consequences for countries already struggling with reproductive health access. MSI’s associate advocacy director, Sarah Shaw, explained, “The annual contraceptive bill for Senegal for the entire country is $3m a year. So the contents of that warehouse could have met all of Senegal’s contraceptive needs for three years. And instead, we’re going to see massive shortages.”
“We’re going to see Senegalese women dying of unsafe abortion, girls having to drop out of school,” she added.
A joint statement from Planned Parenthood, MSI Reproductive Choices, and other reproductive rights organizations condemned the decision. “This decision is about imposing an anti-rights agenda on the entire world that denies women the choice of when and how many children to have, and denies people the opportunity to protect themselves against HIV and other STIs.”
Doctors Without Borders called the plan “unconscionable.”
Research from the Guttmacher Institute, a leading reproductive health research organization, found that the $600 million the U.S. spent on overseas family planning in 2024 helped prevent 34,000 maternal deaths and more than 5 million unsafe abortions. Advocates argue the destruction of this aid stockpile will undermine those efforts and further jeopardize women’s health globally.
In addition to the contraceptive destruction, the Trump administration also plans to burn 550 tons of emergency food aid originally intended for malnourished children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to The Atlantic, the food, also purchased under Biden-era USAID contracts, was enough to feed 1.5 million children for one week. Another $2 million in condoms purchased under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and currently stored in a Dubai warehouse may also be destroyed.
Critics say the administration’s justification for these moves rests on outdated and inaccurate definitions of contraceptives and a broader ideological agenda. Dr. Janet Barter, president of the UK’s Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, clarified, “When contraception is used properly, there is no pregnancy… If there is no egg, there is no pregnancy.” She added that devices like copper IUDs “largely work by killing sperm before an egg can be fertilized.”
Avril Benoit, executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières USA, said the administration’s actions are part of a deliberate and dangerous policy trend. “The U.S. government manufactured this problem,” Benoit said. “Destroying valuable medical items that were already paid for by U.S. taxpayers does nothing to combat waste or improve efficiency. This administration is willing to burn birth control and let food supplies rot, risking people’s health and lives to push a political agenda.”
A bill introduced by Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Brian Schatz would block the destruction of these medical and food supplies, but the measure is unlikely to pass without Republican support.
As stocks are moved to incinerators in France, public health experts warn that the consequences will be immediate and deadly for women and girls in many of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
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