Trump Admin Furthers Fascist Agenda, Destroys USAID Contraceptives

As reports emerge of the Trump administration destroying a nearly $10 million contraceptive stockpile in Belgium, the right’s war on rights and freedoms, and the general reckless disregard for human life are on full display. 

The stockpile has been in limbo since the Trump administration’s rapid defunding of USAID earlier this year. Belgian authorities have denied the destruction, pointing to a local ordinance that requires permission before incinerating medication or medical devices.

According to AFP, the contraceptives have not been destroyed just yet. The outlet quoted a Belgian government spokesperson as saying there had been no lots sent for incineration. The lot includes a variety of contraceptive devices such as implants and intrauterine devices (IUDs). 

While providing contraception to Black- and Brown-led countries has not been without controversy, there is evidence that the funding has saved and improved millions of lives. Earlier this year, after news of USAID’s demise first emerged, the outlet the 19th released a report documenting how the organization’s family planning program provided contraception and HIV treatment. What began as a racist anti-population growth initiative eventually became a key provider of reproductive health resources and support. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently appointed Russel Vought–the far-right leader of the White Office of Management and Budget–as acting administrator of the drastically diminished agency. Rubio served as acting administrator after the State Department took over the agency, but later handed over the reins to a DOGE official. 

Announcing the decision to destroy the contraceptives, Vought peddled in disinformation, claiming the administration would not continue to supply abortifacients despite birth control not causing abortions. 

By many accounts, the Trump administration refused to allow outside groups to purchase the contraceptives, which would have cost the administration nothing. Instead, the administration will spend over $160,000 to destroy the contraceptives. 

Doctors Without Borders released a scathing statement in late July calling the plan “unconscionable.” 

“This administration is willing to burn birth control, and let food supplies rot, risking people’s health and lives to push a political agenda,” Avril Benoît, CEO of Doctors Without Borders, said. 

Advocates have long warned that the right’s war was more than just abortion. As Guttmacher Institute outlined in October 2024, the attack on contraception is a prime aim of Project 2025, along with undermining advancement in sexual and reproductive health and rights globally. Since the rise of the second Trump administration, many of the policy aims outlined in Project 2025 have been swiftly enacted. 

“The plan also proposes blocking funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which provides a wide range of critical sexual and reproductive health services to women and girls globally,” read the Guttmacher Fact Sheet. “When funding to UNFPA was withheld by the Trump-Pence administration, it caused a significant disruption to service delivery.”

Last month, the National Women’s Law Center released an article outlining the dangers of the far right’s “pronatalist” policies embedded in Project 2025. 

“While the administration may support $1,000 baby bonuses to newborns, they also support restricting access to birth control, rolling back gender protections in the workplace, and have already made historic cuts to health care and food assistance that low- to middle-class families rely on,” read the article. “While pronatalists claim to be pro-baby, their agenda is anything but. Controlling women is not the same thing as supporting women.”

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