State Department to burn almost $10 million of contraceptives for poor countries
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President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Oval Office on July 16, 2025. Photo: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
The Trump administration plans to incinerate $9.7 million worth of contraceptives intended for poor nations, after declining offers from the United Nations and reproductive organizations to buy or ship the supplies instead, the State Department confirmed to Axios on Thursday.
Why it matters: The move continues the administration's shift away from providing foreign assistance through the United States Agency for International Development, and its stated opposition to abortion-related family planning methods.
- The supplies set to be destroyed include contraceptive implants, pills, and intrauterine devices, Reuters reported.
- A spokesperson for the State Department cited multiple policies that prohibit the government from providing abortion-related assistance to foreign organizations as rationale for declining to give the supplies away.
What they're saying: In a statement given to Axios, the State Department confirmed that a "preliminary decision was made to destroy certain abortifacient birth control commodities," or substances that can cause abortion, from USAID contracts.
- Only a "limited number" of commodities have been approved for disposal, and no HIV medications or condoms are being destroyed, per the State Department.
- A department spokesperson also said that destroying the "existing abortifacient commodities" will cost $167,000.
Context: The regulations the government cited to block officials from distributing the supplies are laid out in the Mexico City Policy and Kemp-Kasten amendment, which both allow the executive to restrict funding for reproductive-related actions.
- President Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy in January 2025.
- While in effect, the Mexico City Policy has been used to require foreign non-governmental organizations to pledge that they won't use U.S. funding to "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning."
- The Kemp-Kasten amendment has frequently been used to stall funding to the United Nations Population Fund, a U.N. agency centered on studying the global population and reproductive health, according to health policy group KFF.
Catch up quick: The Department of Government Efficiency began gutting USAID early on in Trump's presidency, essentially destroying the world's largest humanitarian aid organization over alleged waste and fraud.
- Certain USAID responsibilities were moved under the jurisdiction of the State Department, and hundreds of employees were informed they'd be let go or reassigned.
Zoom out: The Trump administration has also tried to curb access to abortion domestically.
- Health providers who perform abortions under emergency circumstances were informed in June that they were no longer protected under federal law for doing their work if bans exist in their states.
- The administration supported South Carolina's successful Supreme Court case to block Medicaid recipients from getting care at Planned Parenthood clinics in the state earlier this year.
- The administration is also trying to withhold Title X family planning funds from Planned Parenthood affiliates.
Go deeper: Trump administration notifies Congress it will close USAID
