Emails detail confusion in State Department over Trump plan to destroy contraceptives

“There is no one here that knows definitively what is in the warehouse,” one official wrote of a USAID storage facility in Belgium as its contents were left to expire.

July 14, 2026
By Adam Taylor and Meg Kelly

Newly disclosed emails reveal confusion at the State Department during the Trump administration’s push last year to destroy almost $10 million worth of family planning commodities in a Belgian warehouse that were intended for distribution in some of the world’s poorest nations.

U.S. diplomats in the region were left in the dark about the supplies sitting in the warehouse in Geel, while a senior official privately shared erroneous information that suggested some of the contraceptives could be used to induce abortions.

Continued: https://archive.is/hZ8Nb
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/07/14/emails-detail-confusion-state-department-over-trump-plan-destroy-contraceptives/)

The Dangerous Unraveling Of The United States’ Family Planning Safety Net

Since taking office, the Trump administration has inflicted chaos on Title X, the only federal program that supports the provision of comprehensive reproductive health care to low-income people.

Amy Friedrich-Karnik and Megan L. Kavanaugh
July 14, 2026

Every person, regardless of income or insurance status, deserves the chance to create the family they want on their own timeline. For more than 50 years, the Title X program—the only federal program that supports the provision of comprehensive reproductive health care to low-income people—has been dedicated to serving that mission. Title X was signed into law by a Republican president and has long received bipartisan support. However, today, the goal of ensuring that everyone has access to high-quality reproductive health care faces an unprecedented attack from the Trump administration.

While Title X has been underfunded in recent years—and took a massive hit under the first Trump presidency—it has shown resilience and continues to provide high-quality reproductive health care. In 2023 alone, Title X served 2.8 million people.

Continued: https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/dangerous-unraveling-united-states-family-planning-safety-net

Here’s how much USAID has spent storing unusable contraceptives

The findings from the oversight report offer the latest evidence that the dismantling of the agency incurred large costs and disrupted lifesaving programs.

Jun. 16, 2026
By Julianne McShane

The U.S. Agency for International Development has spent more than $360,000 to transport and store mostly unusable contraceptives at a warehouse in Belgium after the Trump administration decided not to distribute the products to women in poor countries, a new oversight report estimates.

The agency will continue to spend more than $24,000 a month to store those products, which include hormonal implants and injectable contraceptives, until it provides instructions to Chemonics International, the contractor responsible for the contraceptives, on what to do with them, according to the report, prepared by the Office of the Inspector General.

Continued: https://www.ms.now/news/usaid-has-spent-360000-storing-unusable-contraceptives

16.06.2026

Chemonics International

Donald Trump

hBeth Schlachter

MSI Reproductive Choices

USAID

Australia – One Nation needs to be fought, not just analysed

It’s one thing to talk about resisting the far right. But what does it mean in practice?

June 14, 2026

Australian politics is at a turning point. One Nation’s polling numbers have gone from disturbing to disastrous in just a few months. The party is now a serious electoral challenger, and its leaders are moving quickly to build a serious far-right movement. Across the country, it is establishing branches, recruiting wealthy backers and attracting support from every corner of the right, from disaffected Liberals and Nationals to neo-Nazis.

In November, Pauline Hanson visited US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump is unpopular in Australia, even among those considering voting for One Nation. But the visit signalled that One Nation is the official Australian section of the global far-right revival, the political kin of its most influential leader and every bit as prepared to smash the left, migrants and workers.

Continued: https://redflag.org.au/article/one-nation-needs-to-be-fought-not-just-analysed/

14.06.2026

Geneva Consensus Declaration: Institutionalizing Attacks on Women and LGBTQ+ Rights

May 28, 2026

Trump’s former Special Representative for Global Women’s Health and a long-time anti-abortion activist, Valerie Huber, argued recently in an opinion piece in The Hill that an international anti-abortion agreement she spearheaded is one of the “most underused diplomatic assets in America’s current foreign policy toolkit.”

Huber, now CEO of The Institute for Women’s Health, served during the first Trump administration, where she was instrumental in the creation of the October 2022 Geneva Consensus Declaration (GCD). Signed by 41 countries, the GCD is a nonbinding international agreement with the stated goal of promoting better “health for women, the preservation of human life, strengthening of the family as the foundational unit of society, and protecting every nation’s national sovereignty in global politics.”

Continued: https://globalextremism.org/post/geneva-consensus-declaration/

Trump’s abortion ‘gag rule’ has Canadian aid sector asking Ottawa to show leadership

By The Canadian Press
May 17, 2026

OTTAWA — Canadian aid groups are deliberating how to respond to American policies that block U.S. aid for virtually any group in developing countries that provides abortion, science-based sexual health information or LGBTQ+ advocacy.

The rollback of feminist aid has those groups calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to assemble a coalition of like-minded nations to defend sexual health programming.

“People are more likely to die because they’re not receiving this kind of assistance,” said Erin Kiley, director of international programs at Oxfam Canada.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/trumps-abortion-gag-rule-has-canadian-aid-sector-asking-ottawa-to-show-leadership/

Trump Thought He’d Escaped the Abortion Trap

Now the Supreme Court is facing a blockbuster case that threatens to spin out of control.

Nina Martin, Mother Jones
May 12, 2026

By all accounts, President Donald Trump really, really did not want abortion to become a major issue this election year. But here we are, six months before the midterms, and abortion pills are back at the Supreme Court, as the state of Louisiana and abortion drug manufacturers ask to fast-track oral arguments in what is shaping up to be a blockbuster case. Conservatives are invoking the Comstock Act. And Trump’s Food and Drug Administration has been AWOL, while its top official has been forced to resign.

The swift escalation of the showdown between Louisiana and the FDA over telemedicine abortion highlights just how little control Trump has over the abortion issue—both in terms of the timeline and the outcome. Meanwhile, the case is sparking confusion, uncertainty, and dread among patients, providers, and advocates across the US.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/mifepristone-scotus-trump-thought-hed-escaped-the-abortion-trap/

USA — The war against women’s rights

Documentary film: 1 hour 16 minutes
Deutsche Welle
April 28, 2026

The situation of women’s rights in the USA is increasingly dramatic. Radical abortion bans and unequal treatment in the justice system are leading to significant restrictions on fundamental rights.

The documentary reports from the USA, a country where women go to prison for the crimes of their husbands, and a man is allowed to marry a ten-year-old girl. Abortions are illegal even in cases of rape and incest. The documentary sheds light on the mechanisms behind Trump's freedom-restricting policies. The rise of the conservative-puritanical ideology of Christian nationalism has led to a massive restriction of the fundamental rights of US citizens in the USA. In many places, women are dying because of a lack of gynecological care. In states with radical abortion bans, more than 100,000 women have already been forced to give birth to a child after being raped. Since Donald Trump's return as US president, the future for women in the US looks bleak. The documentary looks at the machinations of anti-abortion centers. Through interviews, it reveals how these freedom-restricting and backward-looking policies work. But the film also shows resistance, led by those who refuse to accept these developments.

Continued: https://amp.dw.com/en/usa-the-war-against-womens-rights/video-76966507

Trump administration is expanding global gag rule to export its ideology worldwide

This destructive policy demands that we work harder, smarter, and together to understand the implications and mitigate its impacts, writes Carole Sekimpi

BMJ 2026; 392 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.s335
19 February 2026
Carole Sekimpi, Africa director

In January 2025, US President Trump reinstated the “global gag rule,”1 ending US government foreign assistance for international organisations that provide or promote abortion. I wrote at the time about the harm it would inflict on women and girls.2 A year on, the Trump administration has announced an expansion of the policy that will cut funding to organisations it deems to be promoting “gender ideology” or diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

As a global healthcare community, we are being manipulated by these politicians holding purse strings. Our immediate approach must be to understand the policy changes and navigate them collectively. To that end, we can share information on what the new restrictions are and what they might mean in practice.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/392/bmj.s335.short?rss=1

19.02.2026

‘Coercive’ Trump-led US health deals could cause global abortion access to collapse, charities warn

Special Report: Leading NGOs fear the deals in Africa – offering financial assistance in exchange for things like mining rights and access to health data – are worded vaguely enough for the US to impose restrictions on reproductive rights

Rachel Schraer Global Health Correspondent
Friday 16 January 2026

'Coercive' health agreements between the US and poorer countries could block them from spending their own tax money on things Donald Trump’s administration disagrees with, leading NGOs warn – risking already-fragile access to legal abortion collapsing.

After a complete freeze on foreign aid spending when Trump took office, the US is now in the process of striking new funding agreements with African governments. These promise aid money in exchange for certain conditions – from mining rights and access to valuable patient data, to agreements to spend national health budgets on priorities dictated by America. The deals replace a patchwork of previous health agreements under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has been dismantled during Trump’s first year back in the White House.

Continued: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-abortion-health-aid-africa-b2900590.html