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31st July 2025
01:13pm BST
Trump's administration is set to destroy $10 million worth of contraception at a cost of $167,000, paid by the US taxpayer.
President Donald Trump's close aids have given their seal of approval to burn contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, even though multiple charities have offered to distribute them free of charge.
It follows President Trump's goal of shutting down USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, which is the world's biggest provider of global aid.
The US has spent $68 billion on international aid, which amounts to 0.6 per cent of the government's annual budget of $6.75 trillion.
Trump wants to reduce the federal wage bill and overseas spending, something which the President deems necessary to reduce the national debt, which currently sits at $36.7 trillion.
The national debt is set to only further increase as Trump's new 'big, beautiful bill' is estimated to add a further $3.3 trillion.
The Trump administration is willing to add another $167,000 to that debt to get rid of the contraception, claiming it will be cheaper than the cost of holding, packaging and donating the goods.
The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) even offered to take on all the costs related to holding and packaging, with the head of IPPF's supply chain, Marcel Van Valen, labelling the US Government's argument that burning the contraception would be cheaper as "utter nonsense", per The Independent.
"[IPPF has offered to] go and collect the products, to repack them [at] our cost and to do the distribution throughout the globe with our partners and even competitors in this space," Van Valen explained.
The non-profit organisation MSI Reproductive Choices has since also offered to take on the products.
Its associate advocacy director, Sarah Shaw, said: "This isn’t about government efficiencies. This is about exporting an ideology that’s harmful to women.
"The annual contraceptive bill for Senegal for the entire country is $3m a year. So the contents of that warehouse could have met all of Senegal’s contraceptive needs for three years. And instead, we’re going to see massive shortages.
"We’re going to see Senegalese women dying of unsafe abortion, girls having to drop out of school."
The goods were being held in warehouses across Belgium and France, but will now be transported to a facility where they will be incinerated.
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