US yet to destroy $9.7 million in contraceptives, abortifacients overseas

The United States Department of State’s plan to destroy more than $9 million worth of abortifacient contraceptives stored at a warehouse in Belgium is still unfolding, as of Friday.

This summer, the State Department announced the planned incineration of $9.7 million of “abortifacient birth control commodities,” including IUDs, implants and pills, NPR reported.

The proposal follows President Donald Trump’s reimplementation of the Mexico City Policy, which restricts foreign nongovernmental organizations from providing abortion services or related materials using U.S. funds. President Ronald Reagan first established the policy in 1984, and only Republican presidents since then have followed suit.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) previously purchased the materials under the Biden administration, but the products remain stored at a warehouse in Geel, Belgium, after the Trump administration announced major cuts to USAID. 

The Trump administration ordered the destruction of the supplies in June, and the State Department said the U.S. would “no longer fund the purchase of birth control products for low-income nations,” according to The New York Times.

The State Department told NPR the U.S. would spend $167,000 to destroy the products at a French medical waste facility.

On Thursday, The New York Times reported the materials were destroyed, then retracted on Friday, citing Belgian authorities. 

Rachel Cauley, communications director for the White House Office of Management and Budget and USAID spokesperson, told The Times her previous statement regarding the destruction was incorrect. 

“There was a miscommunication with international staff and no destruction has yet happened but we are reviewing the matter,” Cauley wrote in an email.

Of the nearly five million products on the chopping block, most expire in 2028 or 2029, with 2027 being the earliest expiration date, CNN reported.

In 2024 and for the ninth consecutive year, Congress allocated $607.5 million to USAID for “global family planning and reproductive programs,” according to the Guttmacher Institute. Every $10 million provides contraceptive or abortifacient options to one million women, preventing 362,000 pregnancies and 161,000 births, the institute claims.

Chelsea Polis, principal research scientist at Guttmacher, said the $9.7 million of contraceptives could have prevented 650,000 pregnancies for up to one year, and 950,000 for three to 10 years, depending on the method, NPR reported.

A request for comment from the State Department on Friday went unanswered. No other updates regarding the materials and date of destruction have been announced.