happenThe NGO tries to save $13 million worth of USAID birth control pills to avoid burns
Despite proposals from multiple aid agencies to distribute supplies for free, the U.S. State Department plans to incinerate about $13.2 million in women’s birth control pills.
These supplies include various forms of birth control and are intended for use in family planning schemes in low-income African countries.
Instead, they were already sitting in a Belgian warehouse after President Donald Trump freezes most foreign aid in January.
The UK-based global reproductive health organization MSI Reproductive Options has said it proposed to supply and distribute it to those in need without providing it to the government, but their offer was rebuked.
“For me, it’s a very clear signal,” Sarah Shaw, director of advocacy at MSI told me. happen Guest host Paul Hunter.
“This is just another aspect of the women’s war that we are currently coming out of the United States and internationally.”
Xiao said that through an intermediary, the government wanted to sell products at market value and could not afford it.
According to Reuters, the United Nations’ Sex and Reproductive Health Bureau and UNFPA are willing to purchase contraceptives directly.
The U.S. State Department did not answer CBC questions. But spokesman Tommy Pigott told reporters on Thursday that the government is “still determining the way forward.”
Belgium calls it a “repentant result”
The materials are worth $9.7 million and were once part of the United States International Development Agency (USAID), and the Trump administration has been closed.
In a press conference Thursday, Piggart said the supplies did not include condoms or HIV drugs, but were “choose products” purchased under the previous government, i.e. “possibly miscarriages”, which meant products that induce abortion.
However, aid agencies and media organizations say the planned destruction of supplies is designed to prevent unnecessary pregnancy, rather than terminate them.
Reuters quoted seven confidential resources close to the story, and the warehouse reportedly contained birth control pills and implants as well as intrauterine devices, all in the form of birth control.
Piggart said the products could be a violation of the Kemp Casten Amendment, which prevented the government from supporting programs to engage in “mandatory miscarriage or involuntary sterilization”, as well as Mexico City policy, which prohibits the U.S. government from working with organizations that provide abortion services or information or with organizations that provide abortion services or information.
The latter could explain why the United States rejected the MSI proposal, Xiao said. Her organization refused to comply with Mexico City policies, which she and other aid groups called “global gag order”.
But that doesn’t explain why they rejected other similar proposals trying to prevent contraceptive pills from wasting taxpayers’ fees, she said.
The Belgian Foreign Ministry said Brussels held talks with U.S. authorities and “explored all possible options to prevent destruction, including temporary relocation.”
“Despite these efforts and full respect for our partners, viable options are not available. However, Belgium continues to actively seek solutions to avoid such regrettable outcomes,” it said in a statement.
“Sexual and reproductive health must not be subject to ideological constraints.”
French Fury
The State Department had previously confirmed that it would spend $167,000 in the U.S. ($228,000 CDN) to incinerate contraceptives at a French facility that deals with medical waste.
The news is bad in France, with lawmakers, reproductive health organizations and feminist groups calling on the government to remove the issue.
“We are paying close attention to this situation and we support the willingness of the Belgian authorities to find solutions to avoid sabotage of contraceptives,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement published in the Guardian.
“Defending sexual health and reproductive rights is a priority for France’s foreign policy.”
Global health funding is expected to hit a 15-year low after the White House’s efforts to remove billions of dollars in foreign aid spending, researchers said. Read more:
Xiao said she thanks the people in France who support the cause.
“Even if we can’t stop destruction, we won’t let it go quietly,” she said. “If this happens on French lands that happen under a government with feminist foreign policy, I think it would be a great shame, and it would be a pity.”
Doctors without borders call plans “responsive and harmful”
Avril Benoît, CEO of Doctors with no borders in the United States, called the plan “reckless and harmful behavior to women and girls everywhere.”
“Contraceptives are crucial, and life-saving products are essential,” she said in a press release.[Our organization] When women and girls are free to make their own health decisions by choosing to prevent or delay pregnancy, they witness positive health benefits and the consequences of preventing or delaying pregnancy. ”
Xiao agreed. She said the U.S. has made significant achievements in reducing government efficiency when it comes to global aid and its own civil servants.
But every dollar spent on reproductive health brings more savings, she said.
“It doesn’t make sense to me. If they really want efficiency, investing in family planning is the best investment you can develop,” she said.
“You left the girl in school. You broke the generational cycle of poverty. You created opportunities for a new generation of young women.
“It’s easy. It’s a total political act and African women will pay for it.”
