U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated, after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations, two sources told Reuters.
The supplies have been stuck for months in a warehouse in Geel, a city in the Belgian province of Antwerp, following President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze U.S. foreign aid in January.
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They comprise contraceptive implants and pills as well as intrauterine devices to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, according to seven sources and a screengrab shared by an eighth source confirming the planned destruction.
The U.S. government will spend $160,000 to incinerate the stocks at a facility in France that handles medical waste, according to four of the sources with knowledge of the matter, following Trump’s decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The U.S. State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the negotiations to save the contraceptives from destruction or the plans to incinerate them.
U.S. lawmakers have introduced two bills this month to prevent the destruction of the supplies but aid groups say the bills are unlikely to be passed in time to stop the incineration.
The Belgian foreign ministry said Brussels had held talks with U.S. authorities and “explored all possible options to prevent the destruction, including temporary relocation.”
“Despite these efforts, and with full respect for our partners, no viable alternative could be secured. Nevertheless, Belgium continues to actively seek solutions to avoid this regrettable outcome,” it said in a statement shared with Reuters on Tuesday.
“Sexual and reproductive health must not be subject to ideological constraints,” it added.
The supplies, worth $9.7 million, are due to expire between April 2027 and September 2031, according to an internal document listing the warehouse stocks and verified by three sources.
Sarah Shaw, Associate Director of Advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices, told Reuters the non-profit organisation had volunteered to pay for the supplies to be repackaged without USAID branding and shipped to countries in need, but the offer was declined by the U.S. government.
“MSI offered to pay for repackaging, shipping and import duties but they were not open to that… We were told that the U.S. government would only sell the supplies at the full market value,” said Shaw.
She did not elaborate on how much the NGO was prepared to pay, but said she felt the rejection was based on the Trump’s administration’s more restrictive stance on abortion and family planning.
“This is clearly not about saving money. It feels more like an ideological assault on reproductive rights, and one that is already harming women.”
