As Trump administration plans to burn contraceptives, Europeans are alarmed

With the contraceptives in limbo, the contractor managing the supply explored selling it to outside organizations, including the United Nations’ main sexual and reproductive health agency, the U.N. Population Fund. The nonprofit MSI Reproductive Choices offered to take over the warehousing and redistribute the contraceptives at no cost to the United States.

But last month it emerged that the U.S. government had instead decided to burn the supplies, at a cost to the government of more than $160,000 in transport and incineration fees.

“USAID was allegedly dismantled to prevent future wastage and to deliver value for money for the American people,” said Sarah Shaw, the associate director of advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices. “It’s just egregious that they’re willing to waste $9 million worth of contraceptives that are so desperately needed.”

The decision to destroy the contraceptives has created alarm in Brussels and France as politicians scramble to figure out if the supplies have physically left the warehouse and how they can prevent their destruction.

The State Department confirmed in a statement that “a preliminary decision was made to destroy certain” birth control products.

The department said the contraceptives that had been flagged for destruction were “abortifacient,” meaning that they work by inducing abortion. None of the supplies registered for storage in the Belgian warehouse fit that description, and USAID was forbidden by law to purchase such products.

While earlier reports suggested that the supplies would be destroyed by the end of July in France, European governments, advocacy groups and an American congressional office all said they did not know whether the burning had actually begun.

European governments are still hoping to stop the incineration. The Belgian government’s foreign office has been in talks with its American counterparts about an alternative plan.