The State Department plans to destroy $9.7 million worth of unused, taxpayer-funded contraceptives intended for women in low-income countries after the Trump administration dismantled an array of humanitarian aid and development programs to save money.
The U.S. will spend $167,000 to incinerate the contraceptives, which include intrauterine devices (IUDs), implants and pills, rather than give them to the overseas crisis zones and refugee camps they were meant for, NPR, CNN and The Guardian reported.
The decision follows the Trump administration defunding the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), canceling thousands of contracts and firing thousands of government employees as a means to cut federal spending and prioritize President Donald Trump’s America First foreign policy initiative.
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A representative with the State Department, which absorbed USAID, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
There were offers by organizations to buy the supplies, but these offers were rejected, reportedly due to U.S. laws and rules that prohibit the sale to organizations that provide abortion services, counsel people about the procedure or advocate for the right to it overseas, a state department spokesperson told The Guardian.
Sarah Shaw, the associate director of advocacy at the global charity organization MSI Reproductive Choices, told The Guardian that their purchase offer was refused because they wouldn’t pay full price, given the supplies’ narrowing shelf life and her organization having to cover transportation costs.
“The fact that the contraceptives are going to be burned when there’s so much need – it’s just egregious,” she told the outlet.
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“I’ve worked in this sector for over 20 years and I’ve never seen anything on this scale,” she added. “The speed at which they’ve managed to dismantle excellent work and really great progress – I mean, it’s just vanished in weeks.”
The earliest expiration date of some of the supplies is 2027, with many not expiring until 2030, according to the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, which called the supplies’ planned destruction “a callous waste that puts the health and lives of women and girls at risk.”
“Destroying valuable medical items that were already paid for by US taxpayers does nothing to combat waste or improve efficiency. This administration is willing to burn birth control and let food supplies rot, risking people’s health and lives to push a political agenda,” said Avril Benoît, CEO of MSF USA, in a statement.
In addition to the lost contraceptives, nearly 500 metric tons of emergency food, intended for foreign-aid programs abroad, were also set to be destroyed by the U.S. this month at a cost of $130,000, The Atlantic reported.
The food’s incineration reportedly follows months of repeated requests to ship the nutrient-rich biscuits while they were useful.
One recent study found that the dismantling of USAID is likely to result in more than 14 million preventable deaths by 2030.
For many low-income and middle-income countries, “the resulting shock would be similar in scale to a global pandemic or a major armed conflict,” researchers wrote in the study published in The Lancet medical journal.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has criticized USAID as having “little to show” for the work it’s done and the federal money that’s been invested in its programs. By eliminating the department, he argued that other countries would be forced to step up to help and there would be more programs that align with American interests.
“Americans should not pay taxes to fund failed governments in faraway lands. Moving forward, our assistance will be targeted and time limited,” he said in a statement.
