The U.S. said it would burn $9.7 million of birth control. Its fate is still unclear

September 16, 2025
By Rachel Treisman

For months, $9.7 million worth of birth control meant for women in low-income countries has sat stranded in a Belgian warehouse — apparently destined for destruction — as a result of the Trump administration's freeze on foreign aid.

…Humanitarians' hopes were seemingly dashed last week, when the New York Times, citing a statement from USAID, reported that the contraceptives had been destroyed. But the next day, it later reported, Belgian authorities entered the warehouse and confirmed the contraceptives were still there.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/09/16/nx-s1-5511304/birth-control-foreign-aid-destruction-belgium-warehouse


Setting fire to women’s health

The Trump administration would rather burn contraceptives than help women and girls in developing nations.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf
Aug 13, 2025

According to congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump, the “big, beautiful bill” is all about eliminating fiscal waste and preventing fraud. Yet the State Department is poised to burn millions of dollars—quite literally, in a French incinerator—paying $167,000 to set ablaze a $9.7 million stockpile of U.S. taxpayer-funded contraceptives.

For the past few weeks, global reporting has revealed a collection of IUDs, birth control pills, and implants—all viable for usage for several more years—stored in a warehouse in Belgium. Intended for distribution to women around the world—people living in refugee camps, war zones, and under fragile health systems—these supplies were purchased by the U.S. government before the Trump administration’s order freezing foreign aid, shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and reinstating the Global Gag Rule (a.k.a. the “Mexico City Policy,” which requires foreign non-governmental organizations to certify they will not perform or promote abortion using funding from any source. A damning trifecta, indeed.

Continued; https://contrarian.substack.com/p/setting-fire-to-womens-health


The U.S. is destroying $9.7 million in contraceptives. Is there another option?

July 28, 2025
By Rachel Treisman, NPR

The State Department has confirmed plans to destroy millions of dollars' worth of taxpayer-funded contraceptives meant for women in low-income countries. The controversial move comes as the Trump administration continues to scale back foreign aid.

A stockpile of family planning products — including IUDs, implants and pills — worth $9.7 million has been stuck at a warehouse in Belgium since the administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and froze foreign aid earlier this year, according to statements from multiple humanitarian groups and U.S. lawmakers.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/07/28/nx-s1-5482742/the-u-s-is-destroying-9-7-million-in-contraceptives-is-there-another-option


USA – ‘A Virtual Abortion Doula in Your Pocket’: Aya Contigo Helps Latinas Find Abortion Care

5/26/2024
by Carrie N. Baker

U.S. abortion bans impact 6.7 million Latinas in the United States—the largest group of women of color impacted by these bans. Many lack insurance, cannot travel and face language and cultural barriers to reproductive healthcare.

To address these barriers, two Canadian physicians—Dr. Roopan Gill and Dr. Genevieve Tam—co-created Aya Contigo, an app with an embedded live virtual chat to help people access contraception and abortion. A project of Vitala Global, the app provides resources for obtaining and using abortion pills, and the chat is staffed by professional counselors who walk users through the process. Launched originally in Venezuela, Aya Contigo began serving the United States in September 2023 with plans to expand to Guatemala.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2024/05/26/spanish-abortion-support-usa-venezuela-latina-women/


Attacks on reproductive health will have devastating consequences worldwide

MSF is committed to ensuring people have access to sexual and reproductive health services, but we cannot do it alone.

January 28, 2025

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) condemns the Trump Administration’s recent reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy, more commonly known as the Global Gag Rule, as well as the US government’s support of the so-called Geneva Consensus Declaration.

The Global Gag Rule prevents organizations abroad from using their own non-US government funds to provide or advocate for safe abortion care as a condition to receive US global health assistance. This includes direct services, as well as information, counseling, and referrals, even in countries where abortion is legal. When the policy was last in place from 2017 to 2021, critical health programs were disrupted and suspended in low- and middle-income countries.

Continued: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/attacks-reproductive-health-will-have-devastating-consequences-worldwide


5 reasons why abortion is healthcare

Access to safe abortion care has a real impact on people’s lives and health, from preventing unsafe abortions and complications to upholding bodily autonomy. 

Nov 19, 2024
Doctors Without Borders

At Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), we consider safe abortion care a critical part of our sexual and reproductive healthcare services – one that can save lives and support the well-being of our patients.  

Our teams around the world work in countries with varying laws and cultural views on abortion. Every day, MSF staff see firsthand how access to safe abortion care has a real impact on people’s lives and health.  Anyone who seeks an abortion no matter their reason is deserving of high-quality and dignified care. When patients can access safe abortion care in their communities, the risk of complications related to unsafely induced abortion significantly decreases. There are instances in which abortion care is medically necessary to preserve an individual’s health and well-being, or even save their life. As health providers, MSF is committed to upholding medical ethics and person-centred care, which includes access to safe abortion.

Continued: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/5-reasons-why-abortion-is-healthcare/


5 reasons why abortion is health care

Access to safe abortion care has a real impact on people’s lives and health, from preventing unsafe abortions and complications to upholding bodily autonomy.

September 26, 2024

At Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), we consider safe abortion care a critical part of our sexual and reproductive health care services—one that can save lives and support the well-being of our patients. 

Our teams around the world work in countries with varying laws and cultural views on abortion. Every day, MSF staff see firsthand how access to safe abortion care has a real impact on people’s lives and health.  Anyone who seeks an abortion—no matter their reason—is deserving of high-quality and dignified care. When patients can access safe abortion care in their communities, the risk of complications related to unsafely induced abortion significantly decreases. There are instances in which safe abortion care is medically necessary to preserve an individual’s health and well-being, or even save their life. As health providers, MSF is committed to upholding medical ethics and person-centered care, which includes access to safe abortion.

Continued: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/5-reasons-why-abortion-health-care


Everyone, everywhere should be able to access safe abortion care

Two years after Roe v. Wade was overturned, our message remains: Safe abortion is essential health care that everyone should be able to access.

June 24, 2024
Doctors without Borders

On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the landmark decision on Roe v. Wade and decades of legal precedent recognizing access to safe abortion care as a constitutional right.

…Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization that provides safe abortion care as a critical part of our comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care services. While we do not run medical operations in the US, as a frontline medical organization working in more than 70 countries worldwide, we see the devastating health consequences in places where people do not have access to safe and legal abortion.

Continued: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/everyone-everywhere-should-be-able-access-safe-abortion-care


Migrant women who were raped before crossing the border grapple with restrictive abortion laws in the U.S.

Mexican cartels are using sexual violence as a weapon against migrants, leading women to discover they are pregnant after they cross the border — and face abortion bans.

March 27, 2024
By Paola Ramos and Kay Guerrero
(with 7-minute video)

Six weeks after a young asylum-seeker from El Salvador crossed into the U.S. from Mexico, she realized she was carrying a rape-related pregnancy.

The woman — who like the other women interviewed for this article aren’t being identified for security reasons — said she was sexually assaulted by the Mexican cartel that was holding her hostage in the dangerous border town of Reynosa, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, just a few miles from the U.S. border.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexican-cartel-sexual-violence-migrant-women-abortion-laws-rcna145164


Stories of safe abortion care in Mozambique

29 JAN 2024
Médecins Sans Frontières

In every country, women from all walks of life may seek out an abortion at some time of their lives due to many reasons. Where safe abortion care is too difficult to access, people with an unwanted pregnancy often have no choice but to resort to unsafe abortion, one of the leading causes of maternal mortality globally.

To reduce the high number of women dying from unsafe abortion, Mozambique in 2014 legalised abortion up to 12 weeks and beyond in cases of rape, incest, and severe foetal anomalies such as heart defects. This essential care is provided free of charge. But even though abortion is free and legal, other barriers including stigma and misinformation can still make it difficult to access safe care. 

Continued: https://msf.org.au/article/stories-patients-staff/stories-safe-abortion-care-mozambique