Policy over people: U.S. to burn $9.7M in birth control

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Salon

Published July 27, 2025 11:30AM (EDT)


A stockpile of nearly $9.7 million in U.S.-funded contraceptives is set to be destroyed in Europe, following a policy shift that blocked their distribution to international aid organizations. The supplies, including long-acting contraceptive implants, IUDs, injectables and birth control pills, have been stored in a warehouse in Geel, Belgium, since January. Purchased through U.S. foreign aid programs, the products were intended for distribution across low-income countries through USAID’s global family-planning initiatives.

But under the reinstated Mexico City Policy, also known as the “Global Gag Rule,” foreign non-governmental organizations that receive U.S. funding are barred from offering, referring for or even discussing abortion services. Though the stockpile contains no actual abortion drugs, U.S. officials have declined multiple offers from humanitarian groups to repackage and distribute the items, citing branding and policy compliance concerns.

“This is clearly not about saving money. It feels more like an ideological assault on reproductive rights,” said Sarah Shaw, associate director of advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices, one of several organizations that offered to take the supplies. “MSI offered to pay for repackaging, shipping and import duties, but they were not open to that.”

The incineration, scheduled to take place in France, is expected to cost U.S. taxpayers more than $160,000, even though many of the products remain viable through at least 2027. Public health advocates say the stockpile could have met the contraceptive needs of more than 650,000 people for a year.

Read more: https://www.salon.com/2025/07/27/policy-over-people-u-s-to-burn-9-7m-in-birth-control/

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REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143472638

[LakeVermilion]

1. The way that MAGA's hate foreigners...

One would think that they would pass out all of the stockpile and order more.

Just sayin'.

[Skittles]

2. misogyny overpowers xenophobia

yup

[littlemissmartypants]

8. Astute observation. Yes, indeed. ❤️

[Skittles]

13. a black man can be prez but a woman?

no fucking way.

[littlemissmartypants]

14. I know. I'm sorry. ❤️

[underpants]

3. This came from the Thumpers. 1985 Reagan. D's rescind it - R's put it back

The Mexico City policy was first implemented on January 20, 1985, by the second Reagan administration. Since that time, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has enforced the policy during all subsequent Republican administrations and has rescinded the policy at the direction of all Democratic administrations.[2] After its initial implementation by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1985,[3] the policy was rescinded in 1993 by Democratic President Bill Clinton,[4] reinstated in 2001 by Republican President George W. Bush,[5] rescinded in 2009 by Democratic President Barack Obama,[6][7] reinstated in 2017 by Republican President Donald Trump,[8][9][10] rescinded in 2021 by Democratic President Joe Biden,[11] and reinstated in 2025 by Trump again.[12][13]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City_policy

[Sucha NastyWoman]

4. I don't see condoms on that list of types of birth control betterthat are going to be destroyed.

So, What? This is about men should be able to decide these things, while women shouldn’t have a choice?

[Skittles]

7. BINGO!

it's total misogyny

[littlemissmartypants]

9. Chelsea Polis, a researcher with Guttsmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, told the newspaper that...

"The State Department confirms that a preliminary decision was made to destroy certain abortifacient birth control commodities from terminated Biden-era USAID contracts," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Only a limited number of commodities have been approved for disposal. No HIV medications or condoms are being destroyed."

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2025/07/27/97-millon-birth-control-poor-nations-to-be-destroyed/7331753635944/

[FakeNoose]

5. It's actually bizarre that MAGAs are now encouraging population growth among the poorest and least educated

[Dem2theMax]

6. They're going to need more slaves after they kill off all of us.

[littlemissmartypants]

10. Sub-Saharan Africa...

has experienced an increase in teen births, according to a study at Columbia University in 2024. The number of births climbed from 4.5 million births in 2000 to 6.1 million in 2021as they decreased in the rest of the world.
In Africa, 30% of all woman use birth control but more than half would use it if available, according to DebboAfrica, a healthcare company for African women. Worldwide, around half of women of reproductive age of 15-19 use some form of contraception, according to Focus2030.

Foreign aid cuts could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2023, including two-thirds children, according to a study published in Lancet earlier this month. Congress earlier this month passed legislation to remove $8 billion in foreign assistance.

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2025/07/27/97-millon-birth-control-poor-nations-to-be-destroyed/7331753635944/

[littlemissmartypants]

11. I was going to post this with the UPI source. TY for sharing it. ❤️

[BumRushDaShow]

12. I have tried using UPI for LBN

as they essentially operate like a wire service with quite a bit of stories that M$M buries by wasting their webpage space with duplicate, triplicate, and even quadruplicate links to the same stories, and have been thoroughly bullied out of using them due to their ownership by the Moonies.

[Marthe48]

15. Taxpayers should demand their money back

We are the ones who paid for the products being burned by thugs. It was our property, not theirs. We trusted representatives whose employment is paid with our tax money to disperse the products (and the food they burned) to the customers we intended. The implied contract has been breached by scofflaws and the cost of the destroyed products should be returned to Americans.