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Trump Administration Moves to Burn $9.7 Million in USAID Contraceptives in France

By declining UN and NGO bids to repurpose the stockpile, the US has set the stage for a $160,000 incineration bill

The USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/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
The Trump administration has decided to burn $10 million worth of contraceptives rather than distribute the supplies to poor countries.
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Overview

  • The US is shipping nearly $10 million worth of contraceptive implants, pills and IUDs from a Belgium warehouse to a French medical‐waste facility for destruction.
  • The administration will spend about $160,000 to incinerate supplies that remain viable through 2027 to 2031.
  • Offers from UNFPA and NGOs such as MSI Reproductive Choices to buy, repackage and distribute the stockpile were refused under the reinstated Mexico City Policy.
  • The International Planned Parenthood Federation condemned the destruction as an act of reproductive coercion and urged governments and the French disposal firm to seek alternatives.
  • Bipartisan bills filed in Congress aim to halt the burn but lawmakers and aid groups say legislation is unlikely to clear both chambers before the scheduled incineration.