In Geel (Belgium) a warehouse holds millions of pills, implants, and IUDs, all perfectly usable.
They are not expired. They are not damaged. Yet instead of reaching women in need, they are scheduled to be burned in France.
The U.S. government plans to incinerate $9.7 million worth of contraceptives, originally intended for women in low-income countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most products don’t expire until 2027–2031, but rather than being delivered to crisis zones and refugee camps, these supplies remain locked in a Belgian warehouse, awaiting destruction at a French medical waste facility. And for what? To throw away aid, the U.S. will spend $167,000 of taxpayer money, just to burn healthcare that could save lives
How did we get there ?
The destruction of these contraceptives is a direct result of Donald Trump’s decision to freeze U.S. foreign aid and dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), once the world’s largest humanitarian aid program.
Under leaders like Joe Biden, USAID had been a lifeline, expanding access to healthcare and family planning across the globe. These life-saving supplies were intended for distribution through USAID, which for decades has supported reproductive health in low-income countries.
But under Trump, USAID was weakened and weaponized to enforce an anti-abortion, anti-rights agenda far beyond U.S. borders. The result: dozens of truckloads of contraceptives, worth nearly $10 million, abandoned in Belgian warehouses, rather than reaching the women and communities that urgently need them.
Solutions were offered
Humanitarian organisations, including UNFPA, MSI Reproductive Choices, MSF, and IPPF, offered to purchase, transport, rebrand, and distribute the contraceptives at no cost to the U.S. government. Even Belgium and the European Union tried to negotiate solutions.
Despite these offers, the U.S. government rejected every proposal. The decision is not about logistics or safety. Instead, it is a political choice, with women’s rights treated as collateral damage. After spending nearly $10 million to buy the contraceptives, the U.S. will now spend $167,000 to destroy them, leaving millions of women without critical reproductive health resources.
What will be the impact on women ?
Communities that relied on USAID support now face shortages and disrupted care, leaving millions of women unprotected.
The consequences are severe:
- Millions of women will be denied contraception.
- Unsafe abortions and maternal deaths are expected to rise.
- Aid groups warn that 8.5 million people could be denied access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health services.
This is reproductive coercion on a global scale, stripping women of the ability to decide if, when, and how many children to have.
Sign the petition & Call out your politicians
As of today, no one knows whether the contraceptives are still sitting in the Belgian warehouse, have already been transferred to France, or have been incinerated in secret. The lack of transparency means the destruction may already be underway, or could still be stopped.
This is why collective action matters.
Sign the petition launched by Avortement en Europe: les Femmes Décident, a coalition of women’s rights organisations and trade unions. Share the message. Call out your politicians.
If Europe allows the destruction to proceed, it becomes complicit in a global rollback of women’s reproductive rights.
