‘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

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

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

Critics say policy conflates abortion and birth control; aid groups say supplies could have helped 650,000 people

By CK Smith
July 27, 2025

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.

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

27.07.2025

News

burning of contraception

Global Gag Rule

Mexico City policy

MSI Reproductive Choices

Trump administration to destroy nearly $10m of contraceptives for women overseas

As part of president’s end to foreign aid, destruction of the long-acting contraceptives will cost US taxpayers $167,000

Carter Sherman
Fri 18 Jul 2025

The Trump administration has decided to destroy $9.7m worth of contraceptives rather than send them abroad to women in need.

A state department spokesperson confirmed that the decision had been made – a move that will cost US taxpayers $167,000. The contraceptives are primarily long-acting, such as IUDs and birth control implants, and were almost certainly intended for women in Africa, according to two senior congressional aides, one of whom visited a warehouse in Belgium that housed the contraceptives. It is not clear to the aides whether the destruction has already been carried out, but said they had been told that it was set to occur by the end of July.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/18/trump-administration-destroy-contraceptives-usaid-africa

18.07.2025

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Donald Trump

foreign aid for contraception

Jeanne Shaheen

Marco Rubio

MSI Reproductive Choices

Sarah Shaw

U.S. Agency for International Development

‘We’re ready to fight’: activists brace as US anti-rights figures descend on Africa

Ultra-conservative campaigners fly in for ‘family values’ conferences to share tactics with African allies who oppose abortion and LGBTQ+ rights

Jessie Williams
Fri 9 May 2025

Advocates for sexual, reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights in Africa are bracing themselves for an influx of some of the most powerful, ultra-conservative campaigners from the US, Poland, Switzerland and the Netherlands over the coming months.

The prominent campaigners, who all oppose abortion, transgender and LGBTQ+ rights, and are against sexuality education, are due to speak at a series of conferences focused on African “family values” and “national sovereignty”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/may/09/africa-family-values-anti-rights-conferences-conservative-christian-abortion-lgbtq-gender-uganda-kenya-rwanda

09.05.2025

Commentary

Africa Christian Professionals Forum

Alliance Defending Freedom

Ann Kioko

Anti-Homosexuality Act

Austin Ruse

Bettina Roska

Center for Family and Human Rights

Christian Council International

CitizenGO

Fatima Maada Bio

Henk Jan van Schothorst

Joy Asasira

Julius Maada Bio

MSI Reproductive Choices

National Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Nelly Munyasia

Okwara Masafu

Pan-African Conference on Family Values

Purposeful

Ramatu Bangura

Reproductive Health Network Kenya

Saoyo Tabitha Griffith

Sarah Shaw

Sharon Slater

Southern Poverty Law Center

Women’s Probono Initiative

How Trump’s ban on funding for overseas abortion groups will transform global health

By Gabriela Galvin
25/01/2025

The US tends to ping-pong on the rule based on the president’s political party, but Trump’s version goes further than previous bans.

US President Donald Trump has reinstated a funding ban that targets international abortion services with it likely to have ripple effects across the world.

Health clinics and nonprofits in developing countries are preparing for whiplash as the so-called Mexico City Policy comes into effect, which will curb access to contraception, abortion, and other sexual health services.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/health/2025/01/25/how-trumps-ban-on-funding-for-overseas-abortion-groups-will-transform-global-health

We need to talk about how U.S. policy is sabotaging reproductive rights in Africa

A controversial US policy is jeopardizing family planning services and fueling a maternal health crisis in Ethiopia and Uganda.

By Annabel Rocha
May 20, 2024

The lack of reproductive health services in Uganda and Ethiopia leaves those experiencing unwanted pregnancies with few options, and poorer communities with even fewer. Only 13 to 16% of poor, married women in Uganda use modern contraception, according to Guttmacher, resulting in four in 10 births being unplanned. In Ethiopia, 4.5 million women have an unmet need for modern contraception, with 46% of the estimated 4.6 million pregnancies in the country unintended. To support family planning services, these governments rely on international and U.S. funding, which has devastating consequences for health initiatives when support is withdrawn.

Continued: https://www.reckon.news/family/2024/05/how-us-policy-is-sabotaging-reproductive-rights-in-africa.html

How the US Christian Right Funds Anti-Abortion Activities Abroad

Right-wing US groups have spotted an opportunity to ramp up their activities since Roe v. Wade’s repeal.

by KATY FALLON, pictures by JNO.SKINNER
MARCH 13, 2024

In April 2023, Janet K. Museveni, Uganda’s first lady, published a photo on social media that rang serious alarm bells for advocates of reproductive and LGBTQ rights. The photo sparked concern because of a specific person in it: Sharon Slater, who heads the US nonprofit Family Watch International. The organization describes its work as “strengthening the family,” but the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has designated it as a hate group for its efforts to “further anti-LBGT and anti-choice stances.”

The SPLC is one of several rights groups and monitors that have called attention to the work of Slater and Family Watch International. More worrisome still, the photo of Museveni and Slater came shortly after Uganda’s parliament passed harsh anti-gay legislation that allows for a life-sentence for adults convicted of engaging in consensual, same-sex intercourse. Family Watch International did not reply to a request for comment, but the group has previously denied claims it had lobbied or advocated for the bill.

Continued: https://inkstickmedia.com/how-the-us-christian-right-funds-anti-abortion-activities-abroad/

Abortion still heavily criminalized and regulated across the world, says Amnesty report

A new report by Amnesty International looks into the different forms of violence that safe abortion providers and advocates around the world are exposed to

November 25, 2023
by Peoples Health Dispatch

Health workers and activists defending access to abortion continue to face attacks, as shown in a new report by Amnesty International. While previous years have witnessed improvements in the standards of human rights, progressive legislature, and access to medication abortion, many women and girls still encounter insurmountable obstacles in seeking abortion care.

According to the report, abortion “remains criminalized and heavily regulated in most countries.” This disproportionately affects poor and working-class women, as well as those residing in remote areas where healthcare is less accessible. Regardless of whether abortion is criminalized or not, one activist interviewed for the report emphasized, “Women who have money are able to get abortion services, women without money die.”

Continued: https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/11/25/abortion-still-heavily-criminalized-and-regulated-across-the-world-says-amnesty-report/

25.11.2023

News

ally Pairman

Amnesty International

criminalization of abortion

International Confederation of Midwives

MSI Reproductive Choices

Global: People defending abortion rights are being ‘stigmatised, abused, discriminated against, even killed’ – major new report

24 November 2023
Amnesty International

People who are defending the right to have an abortion and those who provide them, and related essential services are being stigmatised, intimidated, attacked and subjected to unjust prosecutions, making this work increasingly difficult and dangerous to carry out, said Amnesty International in a major new report today (24 November).

In the 59-page report, An Unstoppable Movement: A global call to recognise and protect those who defend the right to abortion, reveals how many healthcare workers, activists and advocates around the world face abuse, arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for supporting the right of women, girls and people who can become pregnant to access abortions.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/global-people-defending-abortion-rights-are-being-stigmatised-abused-discriminated