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Trump admin to destroy, burn $9.7M of contraceptives
https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/07/trump-admin-to-destroy-burn-97m-of-contraceptives.html
Published: Jul. 29, 2025, 3:41 p.m.



By Zach Mentz, cleveland.com

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It will cost $167,000 to incinerate the contraceptives, which include intrauterine devices (IUDs), implants, injectables and pills, a State Department spokesperson told NPR. The stockpile is currently in a warehouse in Belgium and will be transported to a facility in France that handles medical waste.

It remains unclear when the supplies will be destroyed. The products’ expiration dates range from 2027 to 2031, according to Doctors Without Borders, a European-based charity that provides humanitarian medical care.

“Contraceptives are essential and lifesaving health products,” said Avril Benoît, CEO of Doctors Without Borders. “(DWB) has seen firsthand the positive health benefits when women and girls can freely make their own health decisions by choosing to prevent or delay pregnancy—and the dangerous consequences when they cannot. The US government’s decision to incinerate millions of dollars’ worth of contraceptives is an intentionally reckless and harmful act against women and girls everywhere.”

The contraceptives were purchased by the U.S. for the United States Agency for International Development, which was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and provides foreign aid, disaster relief and economic development. USAID programs, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), have saved more than 90 million lives over the past two decades, according to a study published this month in medical journal the Lancet............................