Solicited by AFP, a spokesperson for the United States Department of State confirms that “preliminary decision has been made to destroy certain abortive contraceptive products from USAID contracts”, the American agency for international development, passed under the presidency of Joe Biden. The destruction of these products will cost $ 167,000, he said.
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Why Washington wants to destroy them?
The announcement of this destruction is part of the policy led by Donald Trump since his first term in 2017. Barely elected, the American president had signed a decree restoring the “policy of Mexico”. Initially entered into force under the presidency of Republican Ronald Reagan during an international conference in the capital of Mexico in 1984, this policy prohibits the financing of foreign NGOs practicing abortion or actively militant in its favor. Added to this is the dismantling of USAID and the downward revision of American international aid, amputated on July 18 by some $ 9 billion.
Questioned by The Guardian, the US State Department justified its decision by invoking the “policy of Mexico”. He also highlighted the issue of product expiration dates – but according to press information, contraceptives actually expire between April 2027 and September 2031.
What alternatives to destruction?
The international organization MSI Reproductive Choices said it had proposed “to buy, recondition and manage logistics” at its expense “by ensuring that the products reach people in need” – but “these efforts have been rejected several times”. Same proposal made – without success – by the International Federation for Family Planning (IPPF) which said it was ready to “collect products in Brussels, transport them and recondition them in its warehouse in the Netherlands, then distribute them to women in need around the world, all without any cost for the American government”.
The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has indicated to AFP that it has “taken diplomatic steps with the United States Embassy in Brussels” and being “exploring all possible tracks to avoid the destruction of these products, including temporary relocation solutions”.
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What are the reactions?
In the United States, the Democratic Senator of New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen denounced a “mess” and presented, with the Democratic Senator of Hawaii, Brian Shatz, a bill to prevent their destruction.
In terms of feminist associations, the IPPF denounced an act of “intentional reproductive coercion” in a manifesto also signed by the French family schedule. “France has the moral responsibility for acting, a government which proudly registers the right to abortion in its constitution must also work to protect contraception and the rights of young girls beyond its borders,” said the president of planning Sarah Durocher.
France became in March 2024 the first country to explicitly include abortion in its constitution. An opinion shared by the Ecologists who, in an open letter addressed on Saturday to Emmanuel Macron, ask the Head of State to intervene urgently to prevent destruction. “Our country cannot be an accomplice, even indirectly, of retrograde policies,” they say. Solicited by AFP, the Elysée did not wish to make any comments.