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Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Independent
Almost $10m worth of contraceptives set to be torched by US as part of cuts to foreign aid
Governments and family planning providers in France and Belgium – where the items were held in a warehouse – have been scrambling to block the US from destroying the supplies. The products, which include contraceptive pills, implants and IUDs (intrauterine devices or coils) and have already been paid for by US taxpayers, are being sent to a specialist facility to be incinerated, at an additional cost of $167,000. That's despite offers from charities including MSI Reproductive Choices and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to take on the costs of donating the contraception. The Belgian ministry of foreign affairs had also said it was, 'exploring all possible avenues to prevent the destruction of these stocks, including their temporary relocation'. A ministry spokesperson said the department had acted as soon as the plans to destroy stocks of contraception came to its attention – including sending formal diplomatic representations to the US embassy. French member of parliament Soumya Bourouaha asked in an official question on Monday for the prime minister to, 'do everything possible to save these contraceptive stocks and deliver them to the populations who need them'. However, the negotiations faltered, The Independent understands. The supplies are understood to now be in the process of being transferred between the two countries. Unintended pregnancies in countries with high maternal mortality and no access to safe abortion can be a death sentence. Research by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research group, has found the $600m spent on family planning overseas by the US government last year prevented 34,000 maternal deaths and over five million unsafe abortions. The contraception was purchased under a contract managed by development firm Chemonics, which has been partly cancelled as part of the Donald Trump's deep cuts to foreign aid. Two family planning charities said they had been told by representatives of the project that the destruction of contraceptives was part of an effort to save money, despite the fact the supplies have already been paid for. MSI's associate advocacy director Sarah Shaw said: 'This isn't about government efficiencies. This is about exporting an ideology that's harmful to women.' To give one example, she said, 'the annual contraceptive bill for Senegal for the entire country is $3m dollars 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 said.
Irish Independent
8 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Independent
Almost $10m worth of contraceptives set to be torched by US as part of cuts to foreign aid
Governments and family planning providers in France and Belgium – where the items were held in a warehouse – have been scrambling to block the US from destroying the supplies. The products, which include contraceptive pills, implants and IUDs (intrauterine devices or coils) and have already been paid for by US taxpayers, are being sent to a specialist facility to be incinerated, at an additional cost of $167,000. That's despite offers from charities including MSI Reproductive Choices and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to take on the costs of donating the contraception. The Belgian ministry of foreign affairs had also said it was, 'exploring all possible avenues to prevent the destruction of these stocks, including their temporary relocation'. A ministry spokesperson said the department had acted as soon as the plans to destroy stocks of contraception came to its attention – including sending formal diplomatic representations to the US embassy. French member of parliament Soumya Bourouaha asked in an official question on Monday for the prime minister to, 'do everything possible to save these contraceptive stocks and deliver them to the populations who need them'. However, the negotiations faltered, The Independent understands. The supplies are understood to now be in the process of being transferred between the two countries. Unintended pregnancies in countries with high maternal mortality and no access to safe abortion can be a death sentence. Research by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research group, has found the $600m spent on family planning overseas by the US government last year prevented 34,000 maternal deaths and over five million unsafe abortions. The contraception was purchased under a contract managed by development firm Chemonics, which has been partly cancelled as part of the Donald Trump's deep cuts to foreign aid. Two family planning charities said they had been told by representatives of the project that the destruction of contraceptives was part of an effort to save money, despite the fact the supplies have already been paid for. MSI's associate advocacy director Sarah Shaw said: 'This isn't about government efficiencies. This is about exporting an ideology that's harmful to women.' To give one example, she said, 'the annual contraceptive bill for Senegal for the entire country is $3m dollars 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 said.
The Independent
a day ago
- Health
- The Independent
The Trump administration has just sent $10m worth of birth control to be burnt – rather than donate it as aid
A stock of $9.7m (£7.2m) worth of contraceptives, purchased by the US for use in low-income countries is now in transit to France to be burnt rather than distributed as aid. Governments and family planning providers in France and Belgium – where the items were held in a warehouse – have been scrambling to block the US from destroying the supplies. The products, which include contraceptive pills, implants and IUDs (intrauterine devices or coils) and have already been paid for by US taxpayers, are being sent to a specialist facility to be incinerated, at an additional cost of $167,000 (£124,000). That's despite offers from charities including MSI Reproductive Choices and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to take on the costs of donating the contraception. The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had also said it was, 'exploring all possible avenues to prevent the destruction of these stocks, including their temporary relocation.' A ministry spokesperson said the department had acted as soon as the plans to destroy stocks of contraception, held in Geel in the north of the country, came to its attention - including sending formal diplomatic representations to the US embassy. French member of parliament Soumya Bourouaha asked in an official question on Monday for the prime minister to, 'do everything possible to save these contraceptive stocks and deliver them to the populations who need them'. However, the negotiations faltered, The Independent understands. The supplies are understood to now be in the process of being transferred between the two countries. Access to contraception can be life-saving: unintended pregnancies in countries with high maternal mortality and no access to safe abortion can be a death sentence. Research by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research group, has found roughly the $600m spent on family planning overseas by the US government in 2024 prevented 34,000 maternal deaths and over five million unsafe abortions. The contraception was purchased under a contract managed by development firm Chemonics, which has been partly cancelled as part of the Donald Trump 's deep cuts to foreign aid. Chemonics said it was unable to comment on the programme. Two family planning charities said they had been told by representatives of the project that the destruction of contraceptives was part of an effort to save money, despite the fact the supplies have already been paid for. Marcel Van Valen, IPPF's head of supply chain said the argument that the destruction of these products would come in at a lower cost was, 'utter nonsense' adding that the charity had offered to ' go and collect the products, to repack them [at] our cost and to do the distribution throughout the globe with our partners and even competitors in this space'. MSI's associate advocacy director Sarah Shaw said, 'This isn't about government efficiencies. This is about exporting an ideology that's harmful to women.' To give one example, she said, 'the annual contraceptive bill for Senegal for the entire country is $3 million dollars 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'. A bill has been introduced by Democratic senators Jeanne Shaheen and Brian Schatz to prevent the destruction of the $9.7 of contraceptives specifically, as well as other medicines and food. It's not expected to pass however, as it would need Republican support. IPPF had previously raised concerns that an additional $2 million worth of condoms housed in a warehouse in Dubai were also in line to be destroyed. These were purchased under the HIV programme the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar). A State Department spokesperson described the birth control currently earmarked for destruction as 'abortifacient', and said it did not include condoms. They added that the Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag Rule - first introduced in 1984 and brought back in by every Republican president since - prohibits providing assistance to foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote abortion. It's not clear what the administration means by birth control that is abortifacient (an agent that causes abortions). A Democratic congressional aide whose team has visited the warehouse told The Independent their team who had visited the Belgian warehouse had seen only contraceptives, not abortion pills. The stocks they had seen were not approaching their expiry date. 'Contraceptives are saving tons of women from things like pregnancy after sexual assault or rape and saving abortions too,' the aide said. 'It's just not true that mifepristone or any of these abortion pills are in these warehouses. That's completely false.' In the past, conservative and religious groups in the US have falsely claimed contraceptives count as abortion agents. Dr Janet Barter, president of UK clinical membership body the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, explained an abortion was defined by when, 'there is a pregnancy and the abortion tablets or medications cause that pregnancy to be lost.' On the other hand, 'when contraception is used properly, there is no pregnancy. 'It's very straightforward with pills, implants, injections. They all work by stopping you from producing an egg. If there is no egg, there is no pregnancy,' she said, while in the case of the copper coil, it largely works by killing sperm before an egg could be fertilised. While family planning has come into the firing line, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) pointed out this was the latest in a series of destructions including 500 tons of emergency food aid and almost 800,000 mpox vaccines which had been allowed to expire while active outbreaks rage. 'The US government manufactured this problem,' said Avril Benoît, CEO of MSF USA. 'Destroying valuable medical items that were already paid for by US 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.'
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
US confirms it will destroy contraceptives previously designated as aid
Washington, DC – The United States has confirmed reports that it will destroy reproductive health supplies previously designated as assistance, sparking fury from advocates and aid groups. The US Department of State said on Friday that the decision stems from US regulations that restrict aid to groups that perform or promote abortions. 'Only a limited number of commodities have been approved for disposal. No HIV medications or condoms are being destroyed,' a State Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera in a statement. Reproductive health advocates decried the US decision on Friday, saying that Washington is incinerating 'life-saving contraceptives' rather than handing them to aid groups to distribute them in poorer countries. Several advocacy groups – including International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Sensoa and Countdown 2030 Europe – released a statement calling the US move a 'cruel and ideologically driven'. 'Despite multiple offers from international humanitarian organisations, governments and global health actors to purchase or redistribute these supplies, the US government has refused all alternatives,' the statement said. 'Instead, they are choosing waste and extremist ideology over care, human rights, safety and health.' The groups said they offered to transport, repack, store and distribute the supplies at 'no cost to the US government', but their proposal was turned down. The Reuters news agency had reported that the supplies, set to be destroyed in France, are worth $10m. The State Department spokesperson said the destruction of the commodities, purchased under the administration of former President Joe Biden, will cost $167,000. The US statement added that the administration of President Donald Trump managed to cancel previously placed orders worth $34.1m. Trump has upended US humanitarian aid programmes, all but dismantling the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and cutting assistance to countries and groups across the world. Since running for office the first time in 2015, Trump has presented himself as a staunch opponent of abortion. During his first term, the Republican president appointed three conservative justices to the US Supreme Court, who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. The decision to destroy reproductive health supplies, instead of donating or even selling them, has drawn the ire of critics across the world. Micah Grzywnowicz, regional director of IPPF European Network, said the move shows 'complete lack of basic empathy'. 'It's the height of hypocrisy for a government to preach efficiency and cutting waste, only to turn around and recklessly destroy life-saving supplies when the need has never been greater. This isn't just inefficient — it's unconscionable,' Grzywnowicz said in a statement.. 'This action seriously undermines global public health efforts and limits access to essential care, particularly for communities already facing significant barriers.' Earlier this week, Democratic Congresswoman Judy Chu said she was 'horrified' by the Trump administration's move. 'The Trump admin is burning $10M in taxpayer-funded birth control despite years left before expiration & the UN ready to deliver it to women in need,' Chu said in a social media post. 'This is cruel, disgraceful, and a needless waste of your taxpayer dollars.'
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Health
- Straits Times
International Planned Parenthood condemns plan to burn US-funded contraceptives
FILE PHOTO: A view of a warehouse of Kuehne+Nagel, which houses U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million, after the U.S. State Department confirmed that the stocks would be sent to France to be destroyed, in Geel, Belgium July 24, 2025. REUTERS/Marta Fiorin/File Photo BRUSSELS - The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) on Friday condemned a plan to incinerate U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million in France, a move reported by Reuters earlier this week. The supplies, including contraceptive implants and pills, have been sitting for months in a warehouse in Geel, a city in Belgium's Antwerp province, after President Donald Trump froze U.S. foreign aid in January. They are now being sent to France for destruction. IPPF called on the French, Belgian and U.S. governments to find a way to save the contraceptives, and on the French company that would be responsible for the destruction "to reconsider its role". "This is an intentional act of reproductive coercion," it said in a statement. Washington has previously said it did not want any USAID-branded supplies, like the ones in Belgium, to be rerouted elsewhere. A source with knowledge of the issue told Reuters that the Trump administration was acting in accordance with the Mexico City policy, an anti-abortion pact in which Trump reinstated U.S. participation in January. The State Department also told Reuters that related concerns about the end-destination of the contraceptives were factors in the decision. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore SMRT to pay lower fine of $2.4m for EWL disruption; must invest at least $600k to boost reliability Singapore MRT service changes needed to modify 3 East-West Line stations on Changi Airport stretch: LTA Singapore S'pore could have nuclear energy 'within a few years', if it decides on it: UN nuclear watchdog chief Life 'Do you kill children?': Even before independence, S'pore has always loved its over-the-top campaigns Singapore Lung damage, poor brain development, addiction: What vaping does to the body Singapore Career setbacks among challenges raised by those seeking fertility help in S'pore: Survey Singapore Fine for couple whose catering companies owed $432,000 in salaries to 103 employees Singapore Kopi, care and conversation: How this 20-year-old helps improve the well-being of the elderly The IPPF said it had offered to collect the products, transport and repack them and to distribute the products onwards to women in need across the globe - "all at no cost to the US government" - but that the offer was rejected by the U.S. government. REUTERS
