The United States Agency for International Development (U.S.A.I.D.) has confirmed that millions of dollars’ worth of contraceptives meant for low-income countries, many of them in Africa, have been destroyed on the orders of the Trump administration.
- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) destroyed $9.7 million worth of contraceptives initially designated for low-income countries.
- This decision was facilitated by the directive of the Trump administration despite offers from organizations to purchase or redistribute the supplies.
- The contraceptives, including birth control pills and implants, were mischaracterized as abortifacients despite evidence to the contrary.
- International appeals and alternative plans proposed by both U.S. and foreign stakeholders were dismissed in favor of the destruction policy.
The contraceptives included birth control pills, implants and IUDs.
They were worth about $9.7 million and had been stored in a warehouse in Belgium for months after the U.S. cut foreign aid funding.
According to documents obtained by The New York Times, several organizations, including the Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, had offered to buy or accept the contraceptives at no cost to the U.S. government.
Instead, the administration chose to destroy them, an operation that reportedly cost about $167,000.
A U.S.A.I.D. spokesperson claimed the contraceptives were destroyed because they were “abortifacients” and said President Donald Trump was committed to “protecting the lives of unborn children.”
However, U.S.A.I.D. is not allowed to buy abortion-inducing drugs, and documents show that none of the products were abortifacients.
They prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation or fertilization. Internal emails show that staff had repeatedly told senior officials this, but the destruction still went ahead.
Health experts have condemned the move.
Beth Schlachter, director of U.S. external relations at MSI Reproductive Choices, said it was “an outrageous act of cruelty” and warned that it would cost lives, harm global health efforts, and deny millions of people the basic tools they need to plan their families.
Belgian officials had tried to stop the destruction.
The Belgian foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, appealed to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to block the plan, while Flemish authorities pointed to local laws that ban the destruction of usable medical supplies.
Seven international organizations had offered to take the products, and U.S.A.I.D. staff even prepared a plan to sell them to the U.N. Population Fund, which could have recovered $7 million with no extra cost to U.S. taxpayers.
But in June, State Department official Jeremy Lewin ordered the destruction, calling it “the cheapest option that best reflects the administration’s significant concerns with funding these activities.”
Experts say the loss will be most felt in Africa, where U.S.A.I.D. supplies have long supported family planning clinics in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
![88% of married women in Nigeria do not use contraceptives, says AHBN. [herald]](https://ocdn.eu/pulscms/MDA_/bf5d08edd801b82be6a2340dcb4b13b8.jpeg)
These programs help prevent unplanned pregnancies, reduce unsafe abortions, and lower maternal deaths.
With this destruction, health workers warn that pressure on already stretched public health systems may increase.
The destruction comes as the Trump administration continues to shut down U.S.A.I.D., which has operated for more than 60 years.
Most of its remaining work has been moved into the State Department, a change critics say will harm women and girls in the world’s poorest regions, especially in Africa.
