Concerns are mounting that the Trump administration may be storing $9.7 million in contraceptives in Belgium until they expire.
Concerns are rising over the Trump administration’s decision to store $9.7 million worth of U.S.-purchased contraceptives in Belgian warehouses until they expire.
The undelivered contraceptives, initially intended for donation to various African countries and procured by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Biden administration, are now being stored indefinitely in Belgian warehouses, CNN reported, as many U.S. foreign aid programs have been discontinued under Trump.
“It’s urgent that we receive these resources before they become ineligible for import,” said Dr. Bakari Omary, the project coordinator at the NGO Umati, which is IPPF’s member organization in Tanzania. “The contraceptives being held represent 28% of the country’s total annual need, and not having them is already impacting clients’ reproductive health and family planning freedoms.”
Since the incineration plans became public knowledge, aid workers have urged the Trump administration to deliver the contraceptives to women in Tanzania, Mali, Kenya, and other countries, or to sell them to NGOs that could distribute them. They warn that the undelivered supplies, combined with cuts to family planning programs, could lead to higher maternal deaths, unsafe abortions, and economic hardship from unplanned pregnancies.
However, representatives from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and MSI Reproductive Choices all claim that the U.S. government has ignored or rejected their offers to purchase the contraceptives.
“Destination countries, including Tanzania (the main recipient), as well as others such as Malawi, Bangladesh, DR Congo, Kenya, apply importation rules that limit entry to medicines with a specific percentage of remaining shelf life,” IPPF’s head of supply chain Marcel Van Valen said.”
The contraceptives consist mainly of long-acting birth control methods, including intrauterine devices (IUDs), rod implants, injections, and tablets containing levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol. However, a U.S. State Department spokesperson previously described the supplies in Belgium as “certain abortifacient birth control commodities from terminated Biden-era USAID contracts,” a controversial remark reflecting ongoing U.S. debates over when life begins.
The UNFPA is pressing ahead with its efforts to purchase the contraceptives and address the ongoing maternal health crisis.
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Source: Black Enterprise
