France has confirmed it is monitoring a US plan to incinerate millions of dollars worth of unused contraceptives in Europe – a move aid groups say is ideologically driven and medically wasteful.
The contraceptives – including intrauterine devices (IUDs), implants and pills – were bought under public health programmes run by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Since January, the supplies have been sitting in a warehouse in Geel, Belgium, after the Trump administration froze and then cancelled funding for reproductive health projects.
The products, which were meant for use in low- and middle-income countries, were being stored as part of USAID’s supply chain, managed by its logistics contractor Chemonics.
Several media outlets have reported that the material may soon be transferred and incinerated in France, though no final decision has been confirmed.
A diplomatic source told RFI that France “firmly supports the Belgian authorities’ desire to find a solution to avoid the destruction of the contraceptives” and is “following the situation closely”.
The source added that France had “no information about any transfers that have taken place”.
A US State Department spokesperson told the French news agency AFP that a preliminary decision had been made to destroy certain "abortifacient contraceptives" from USAID contracts, adding that no HIV medication or condoms would be affected.
The destruction is expected to cost $167,000. The stock is valued at $9.7 million.
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Redistribution offers rejected
Several global organisations say they offered to collect and redistribute the supplies free of charge, but were turned down by US authorities.
The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) said it proposed to recover the products in Brussels, transport them to its Dutch warehouse for repackaging, and then send them to countries in need.
MSI Reproductive Choices, a UK-based group, told RFI it had offered to cover all the costs involved, including rebranding.
“We would have removed the stars from the USAID logo. It would have cost the US taxpayer nothing, nor the government,” said Sarah Shaw, MSI’s advocacy director.
“We were told the US government would only sell the supplies at their purchase price. This is a situation we have never seen before.”
Shaw estimated the stock would have covered Senegal’s contraception needs for three years.
The UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, also offered to buy the contraceptives but was turned down.
“This suggests the problem is not legal, but ideological,” Shaw said. “It is a clear refusal to allow these contraceptives to be given to women in need. This US administration simply does not recognise their right to contraception.”
The US State Department has described the items as “abortifacient” – a term commonly used by anti-abortion activists to describe IUDs and other hormonal contraceptives.
Since January, the Trump administration has banned any US funding to NGOs that support or promote access to abortion, even indirectly.
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French firm denies involvement
Media reports have identified Veolia, a French waste management firm, as a possible contractor for the incineration. But the company told RFI it only has a framework agreement with Chemonics to handle expired products.
“The stock mentioned in Belgium is not part of this agreement,” Veolia’s press office said. “We are not responsible for its management.”
Activist Danièle Gaudry, from the coalition Abortion in Europe – Women Decide, told RFI the timing of any transfer from Belgium to France remains unknown. “We still don’t know the date it will happen, and we’re still trying to identify the company,” she said.
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Lawmakers urge action
On Saturday, French Greens leader Marine Tondelier and a group of female MPs urged President Emmanuel Macron to intervene, calling the plan “an affront to the fundamental principles of solidarity, public health and sexual and reproductive rights that France is committed to defending”.
They asked him not to become “complicit, even indirectly, in retrograde policies” and to support NGOs ready to redistribute the contraceptives.
Sarah Durocher, president of the French Family Planning association, said France had a responsibility to act.
“A government that proudly enshrines the right to abortion in its constitution must also defend access to contraception beyond its borders,” she said, in a statement issued by IPPF.
The Elysée has yet to comment on the case.
