Trump Administration’s Decision to Destroy $9.7 Million Worth of Contraceptives for Low-Income Countries Sparks International Outrage and Potential Humanitarian Disaster

For several months, a $9.7 million inventory of birth control intended for women in low-income countries has remained stationary within a Belgian warehouse, potentially facing destruction due to the Trump administration’s freeze on international aid.

In July, the State Department announced plans to spend $167,000 of taxpayer funds to incinerate these unused contraceptives at the end of the month, causing widespread outrage among humanitarian organizations worldwide who offered to purchase and distribute them instead.

Sarah Shaw, associate director of advocacy at MSI, expressed her dismay to NPR, stating, “It makes no sense for this product to be burned. It’s an environmental disaster, a human rights disaster, it’s just catastrophic on every level. So why not simply transfer them quietly and allow a third party to handle the matter?”

Despite the initial deadline passing without confirmation of the stockpile’s destruction, the contraceptives’ fate remains unclear, generating confusion and cautious optimism regarding their survival.

Last week, the New York Times reported, citing USAID, that the contraceptives had been destroyed. However, Belgian authorities subsequently entered the warehouse and found that the products were still present.

The Belgian foreign ministry declined to comment on the matter, directing queries to the Flemish Minister of Environment and Agriculture, who has yet to respond. In a demonstration of hope for the contraceptives’ survival, the Flemish sexual health organization Sensoa is organizing a protest against their planned incineration outside the American Embassy in Brussels on Thursday.

One nonprofit, PAI, stated that conflicting information regarding the stockpile has led to confusion among civil society and the general public. However, humanitarian organizations have welcomed this ambiguity, clinging onto hope that birth control pills, implants, and injectables—with expiration dates ranging from 2027 to 2031—might still reach their intended recipients.

According to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), approximately 77% of the products were designated for five African nations: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Mali. Many of these countries are already experiencing contraceptive shortages due to the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID.

The destruction of this single stockpile could potentially lead to 362,000 unintended pregnancies, 161,000 unplanned births, 110,000 unsafe abortions, and 718 preventable maternal deaths, according to the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC).

Over seventy U.S.-based and international organizations recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging him to abandon the destruction plans and ensure that lifesaving commodities—including contraception—reach those in need.

“Women and girls around the world are desperately seeking out contraception and encountering empty shelves,” they wrote. “Meanwhile, this administration is choosing to spend taxpayer dollars on destroying effective health and medical supplies that are wanted and needed, which could save and transform lives.”

The organizations expressed concerns about the U.S. government’s characterization of birth control products as “abortifacients,” when in fact no methods of abortion are included in the stockpile.

Experts suggest that the U.S. government has several responsible options to prevent the destruction of these supplies, such as selling them to non-governmental organizations offering to distribute them or donating them directly to African countries’ ministries of health.

“There is a $10 million worth of product that has already been paid for and could be moved out to countries,” said MSI’s Sarah Shaw. “Local health systems will utilize this product effectively.”

Shaw explains that getting the stock—equivalent to ten truckloads—from Belgium to other countries, particularly in Africa, may take up to six months due to shipping and customs logistics as well as distribution within the country. However, she notes that many of these countries have a policy requiring medicines to be at least two years before their expiration dates, which could complicate matters for the contraceptives set to expire in 2027.

Despite these challenges, Shaw is hopeful that waivers can be secured to circumvent this rule and ensure that the contraceptives reach those in need.

The U.S. has historically been the largest bilateral donor for family planning, contributing $600 million each year—nearly half of global donor funding, according to the RHSC. However, under the Trump administration, this has changed. When foreign aid was frozen in January, it specifically halted family planning services because they were not considered “life-saving”—despite substantial evidence demonstrating that these services reduce maternal and newborn deaths.

This freeze, coupled with the administration’s dismantling of USAID, has left a significant gap in global family planning resources, exacerbating shortages in many sub-Saharan African countries. In Kenya, for instance, where unsafe abortions are among the leading causes of maternal deaths, the funding freeze has left facilities with less than five months’ supply of contraceptives, as opposed to the required 15 months.

IPPF also warned of a shortage of contraceptives in Tanzania, which has directly impacted clients’ choices regarding family planning uptake. The products currently stranded in Belgium represent “a terrifying 28% of the total annual need” for the country, according to IPPF.

Shaw explains that MSI teams on the ground will have to turn women away if the contraceptives are destroyed, a situation she describes as “life-changing” for those women. “It means girls will drop out of school, women will have unsafe abortions, and women will die in childbirth,” she says. “This could change the trajectory of an entire generation of women and girls.”

While aid groups stress the urgency of distributing the contraceptives currently stranded in Belgium, they also acknowledge that their distribution would not fill the void left by the U.S.’s withdrawal from this sector. The group PAI estimates that there is an estimated $40 million worth of contraceptives held up at various points in the global supply chain. One example, according to RHSC, involves a stockpile valued at $1.5 million being stored in Dubai.

Médecins Sans Frontières USA (MSF-USA) advocate Rachel Milkovitch suggests asking questions about all contraceptives that are delayed—whether they’re in transit, warehouses, or elsewhere—and not just the $9.7 million stock in question. “If we save these supplies and prevent their destruction,” she says, “it doesn’t start or end with this.”