Trump Administration to Burn \$10 Million Worth of Contraceptives Despite Global Aid Offers

Imagine boxes upon boxes of life-saving birth control—enough to protect millions of women, enough to prevent countless unsafe pregnancies, and enough to change the future for families across the world—being loaded onto trucks. But not for delivery. Not for aid. These trucks are headed to an incinerator.

That’s exactly what’s happening.

Nearly \$10 million worth of contraception—pills, IUDs, implants—purchased with U.S. taxpayer money, is being burned. Not used. Not donated. Burned.

And here’s the part that breaks your heart: Charities literally begged to take it. They offered to cover every cent of storage, transport, and distribution. But the Trump administration said no. Instead, they’re spending an extra \$167,000 just to destroy the products.

Why is this happening? Because it aligns perfectly with their broader goal: to tear down USAID—the largest international aid organization in the world. They’re calling it a “cost-cutting” move, but the math tells a different story.

While slashing global aid, they’re also throwing their support behind a bill that could add a staggering \$3.3 trillion to the national debt.

And while they play politics, real people on the ground are left desperately calling for help.

In Senegal, the annual cost to supply contraceptives to the entire country is just \$3 million. That means the supplies being burned could have covered three whole years of reproductive care for a nation. And now? There will be shortages. Girls dropping out of school. More unsafe abortions. More deaths.

“This isn’t about saving money,” says one advocate. “This is about pushing an ideology that hurts women.”

The pills, the devices, the hope—they’re currently being transported from warehouses in France and Belgium to be incinerated. Gone forever.

So many people think aid gets wasted. That no one wants it. But this time, it was the opposite. The world was ready to receive. The help was right there. And someone in power chose fire instead.

Sometimes, the tragedy isn’t what we don’t have—it’s what we throw away on purpose.