France Urged to Stop US Destroying $9.7m of Aid Contraceptives

The French government has said it is closely monitoring a US plan to potentially destroy millions of dollars of contraceptives stocked in Europe after outrage from French feminists, rights groups and family planning organisations at what they called a wasteful attack on women's rights.

- Angelique Chrisafis

The Guardian reported this month that Donald Trump's administration planned to destroy $9.7m (£7.3m) of contraceptives held in a Belgium warehouse but which could be moved to France for incineration.

They are mostly long-acting contraceptives such as IUDs and birth control implants that had been bought under public health programmes run by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and were probably intended for women in Africa.

A US state department spokesperson told Agence France-Presse (AFP) this week that "a preliminary decision was made to destroy" certain birth control products from "terminated Biden-era USAID contracts".

The Trump administration dismantled USAID in January.

The spokesperson said the destruction of the contraceptives would cost $167,000 and "no HIV medications or condoms are being destroyed".