Trump administration burned $9.7 million on birth control after being banned, and may now be running out of time

The Trump administration is storing $9.7 million worth of U.S.-purchased contraceptives in warehouses in Belgium rather than shipping them to women overseas because aid workers fear the U.S. government will delay the goods before they expire.

CNN has previously reported on contraceptives procured by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) during the Biden administration that were planned to be donated to several African countries but were not delivered. They are now being held indefinitely in a Belgian warehouse as the United States halted many foreign aid programs.

The Trump administration began dismantling the now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Development in January, leaving a huge gap in international aid budgets for family planning, malaria, HIV, childhood hunger and other pressing issues.

The U.S. State Department previously stated in a statement that it had made a “preliminary decision” to destroy the contraceptives in Belgium at a cost of $167,000.

But the decision was hampered by regulations in Flanders, Belgium, which bans the incineration of reusable medical equipment.

A U.S. congressional aide told CNN that most of these contraceptives are long-acting contraceptives, such as intrauterine devices (IUDs). Another source with knowledge of the warehouse’s inventory shared a complete list of supplies with CNN, showing that the contraceptives include copper IUDs, implants, contraceptive injections and levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol tablets.

According to the list of nearly 5 million items, most products have expiration dates of 2028 or 2029, with the earliest expiration date being April 2027.

Since plans to burn the goods became public knowledge, aid workers have been fighting for the Trump administration to ship the items to women in Tanzania, Mali, Kenya and elsewhere or sell them to NGOs willing to do so. Aid workers warn that unavailable contraceptives and cuts to family planning programs will increase the economic pressures of maternal deaths, unsafe abortions and unwanted pregnancies.

The U.S. government has ignored or rejected offers to purchase birth control pills, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and a group called MSI Reproductive Choices.

Now, aid workers say they fear the U.S. government plans to store the supplies in two warehouses in Belgium until they expire and cannot be used or exported.

Lack of contraceptives has affected women

IPPF head of supply chain Marcel Van Valen said in a statement earlier this month: “Destination countries, including Tanzania (the main receiving country) and other countries such as Malawi, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, etc., apply import rules that restrict the entry of medicines to a specific percentage of their remaining shelf life.”

He said that in Tanzania, for example, such long shelf life products cannot be imported if the total shelf life remaining is less than 60%.

Van Valen added: “Unless a practical solution is urgently found, the U.S. government may exploit this gap by allowing products to be shelved until they are technically below the import threshold and then justify their destruction on the pretext of regulatory compliance.”

The State Department did not respond to CNN’s questions about the administration’s intentions with birth control products.

“We urgently need to receive these resources before they become ineligible for import,” said Dr. Bakari Omary, project coordinator at NGO Umati, IPPF’s member organization in Tanzania. “Contraceptives held account for 28% of the country’s total annual demand and the lack of contraceptives has impacted clients’ reproductive health and family planning freedoms.”

Broader USAID cuts to family planning services in Tanzania are also exacerbating challenges posed by birth control shortages.

“After funding was cut, some programs were downsized; their health care workers were pulled out of the community,” O’Mary told CNN, describing the situation on the ground as “difficult.” The doctor said he feared his organization would see an increase in unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions.

The ideological debate over birth control

A U.S. State Department spokesperson previously referred to the contraceptives stranded in Belgium as “certain abortifacient contraceptive commodities terminated under the Biden-era USAID contract.”

Whether certain contraceptives are described as abortifacients or cause abortions is a controversial issue in the United States due to debates about the moment life begins. However, the main function of an IUD is to inhibit the release of the egg, or prevent sperm from reaching the egg.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) told CNN that “there is no such thing as the abortion pill.”

“By definition, contraceptives prevent pregnancy rather than terminate it. IUDs and other forms of birth control do not cause miscarriage,” ACOG said.

The Belgian government continues to enforce a ban on burning goods and says it has been working to find a diplomatic solution to prevent this from happening.

UNFPA said in August that it “remains able and willing to purchase and distribute these supplies.” The UN agency said it could purchase the contraceptive pills after being approached in February by Chemonics, the contractor that manages USAID’s global health supply chain program, “but after weeks of discussions, Chemonics stopped responding to UNFPA.” At the time, a spokesperson for Chemonics referred CNN’s questions to USAID.

“Contraceptives save lives. More than 250 million women around the world want to avoid pregnancy but do not have access to family planning services,” UNFPA added in a statement.

“UNFPA and its partners estimate that meeting this unmet need for family planning could reduce maternal mortality by approximately 25 percent.”

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