On Trump’s orders, US destroys $9.7 mn in contraceptives stored in Belgium: Report

The Trump administration has ordered the purge of millions of dollars’ worth of birth control pills and other contraceptives earmarked for people living in low-income nations, the United States Agency for International Development has announced.

The agency bought the pills, intrauterine devices and hormonal implants for $9.7 million before destroying them earlier this year. The contraceptives were stored in a warehouse in Belgium and were dismantled after the US government did not deem them “life-saving”, adding that the administration would stop funding the purchase of birth control products in poor countries.

Internal documents and correspondence from the State Department and USAID, obtained by The New York Times, reveal that several international organisations, including the Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, had offered to purchase or accept a donation of the contraceptives. Under those proposals, the US government would have faced no costs and could potentially have recovered taxpayer funds.

Did the pills induce abortion?

A State Department spokesperson told the media outlet that the Trump administration had destroyed the products in an operation that was estimated to cost $167,000, claiming that the pills induced abortion.

“President Trump is committed to protecting the lives of unborn children all around the world. The administration will no longer supply abortifacient birth control under the guise of foreign aid,” the spokesperson said.

The USAID cannot procure abortifacients (abortion inducing drugs) under US law. However, the NYT found that none of the products stored in the Belgian warehouse were abortifacients. Instead, the inventory list shows that they stopped pregnancy by preventing ovulation or fertilisation.

‘Outrageous act of cruelty’

The destruction of the products has invited criticism from the medical world. Beth Schlachter, director of U.S. external relations for MSI Reproductive Choices told NYT, “The deliberate destruction of nearly $10 million worth of contraceptives, under the blatantly false pretence that they are abortifacients, is an outrageous act of cruelty.”

“This decision will cost lives, derail progress in global health and strip millions of people of the basic tools they need to plan their families and protect their health,” she added.

The Belgian government launched an extensive diplomatic effort to stop the contraceptives from being incinerated at a medical waste facility. According to a Belgian foreign ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter, Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot even wrote to Senator Marco Rubio in an attempt to intervene.