Trump wants to torch contraception for poor women. So far, Belgium says no

In September, the Trump administration told The New York Times that it had destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of contraceptive medication and devices that were being stored in Belgium. But a later on-the-ground report revealed that wasn’t the case and that all those contraceptives were still in a warehouse — and that the U.S. government was still refusing to distribute them or give them away.

As things stand, $9.7 million in contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices and hormonal implants purchased by the U.S. government before Trump dismantled U.S. foreign aid programs earlier this year remains in limbo. These supplies were originally intended for distribution in low-income countries, but the administration says it no longer views contraception as lifesaving treatment, and will no longer fund birth control products for other nations. This was all part of the Trump administration’s larger effort to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which it has described as wasteful and unnecessary.

Since July, nonprofit agencies, such as the British organization MSI Reproductive Choices, have repeatedly offered to distribute the products at no cost to U.S. taxpayer. (Incinerating all that material, on the other hand, is expected to cost more than $160,000). Many of the products remain viable through at least 2027.

“We can’t buy the commodities, but we can arrange to cover the cost of the distribution,” Sarah Shaw, associate director of advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices, told Salon. Those would include “any repackaging costs, shipping and any import duties that would be incurred” in transporting them to another country.

That offer was made to Chemonics, a private entity that operates the supply-chain management project for USAID and uses the Belgian warehouse as a regional distribution hub. Chemonics told Salon the company would not comment on “specific activities or decisions made on active U.S. government-funded programs,” but said it would “work closely with our U.S. government clients to procure and deliver lifesaving health commodities around the world” and “continue to support the U.S. government’s global health supply chain priorities.”

Florinda Baleci, a Belgian government spokesperson on trade and development issues, told Salon that her country has “explored all possible avenues to prevent the destruction of these contraceptives, including relocation and transfer options to Belgian authorities or international organizations.” While the contraceptives have not yet been destroyed, Baleci said that some have been transferred from the original warehouse in Geel, Belgium, to a different warehouse in another village, apparently owned by the private companies Van Moer Logistics and Kuehne & Nagel. Baleci said four containers remain in Geel.

“It is possible that some products may no longer be usable due to the conditions of transport, but this has not been established with certainty,” Baleci added. 

Tom Demeyer, a spokesman at the Flemish Ministry for the Environment and Agriculture, told Salon by email that as of Oct. 10, 2025, the contraceptives are still in storage and have not yet been destroyed. Furthermore, he added, an incineration ban in effect in Flanders means that incineration plants “cannot accept these goods.”

The U.S. State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

A study published in July by The Lancet estimated that the USAID funding cuts could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030. USAID funding is most likely to reduce mortality related to HIV/AIDS and malaria, according to the study. According to an independent researcher’s estimate of the death toll caused by the Trump administration’s funding cuts, terminations and near-total elimination of USAID, the result is about 88 deaths worldwide every hour of every day.

Shaw, of MSI Reproductive Choices, said it was too soon to know the impact of USAID cuts on reproductive health, as it could take years to collect that data. But she had a few ideas.

“We’re going to see an increase in unmet need for contraception, an increase in unintended pregnancies and, as a consequence of that, increases in maternal deaths,” Shaw said. She added that “increases in unsafe abortion,” were also likely, “but it’s too early for that to show up in the data.”

According to a recent survey conducted by Shaw’s agency with their partners, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, 86 percent of programs surveyed said they have seen significant impacts as a result of USAID cuts, and specifically impacts on public health and access to contraception.

This isn’t the first time a Trump administration has cut USAID funding in a manner that affected global reproductive health. After Donald Trump first took office in 2017, he reinstated the “global gag rule,” which decreed that global NGOs receiving U.S. funding were banned from providing or offering information about abortion. Later in his first term, Trump expanded the rule to apply to all U.S. global health assistance, and the funding affected by the policy increased from $600 million to about $12 billion.

Ripple effects of that policy were felt around the world: Clinics for teenagers in Ethiopia previously supported by U.S. funding were shut down, and an effort to include HIV testing in family planning in Kenya fell apart. In 2021, Joe Biden’s administration rescinded the rule.

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This time around, Shaw said, the Trump cuts are more significant and the immediate effects more extreme.

“It’s the entire family planning budget that has gone,” she said. “We have never seen anything like this.” Under previous gag rules imposed by Republican presidents like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, she said, “You’d finish out your contract, and then you’re not eligible for renewal.”

This time around, affected organizations had to shut down their operations immediately. “This is why there were so many commodities stuck in the supply chain,” Shaw added, “because they were never able to work through to the end of their journey.”

Caitlin Horrigan, senior director of global advocacy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told Salon that the Trump administration’s attacks on reproductive health care across the world have been “relentless, chaotic and cruel.”

“Destroying contraception has devastating and long-lasting impacts for women and communities around the world,” Horrigan said. “Without access to family planning, rates of unintended pregnancies, maternal mortality and mother-to-child transmission of HIV will increase; the Trump administration’s actions will cost lives and deny women and girls around the world services that help them stay in school, pursue economic opportunities and climb out of poverty.”