Lisa Correnti
(ZENIT News – Center for Family and Human Rights / Washington, 08.17.2025).- The Trump administration confirmed reports that $10 million in contraceptives and abortifacients directed to Africa could be destroyed. Global abortion groups and the United Nations Population Fund were denied requests to purchase the contraceptives due to current U.S. policy that prohibits funding to organizations that promote and perform abortion overseas.
Tammy Bruce, State Department spokesman said the sale of such contraceptives and abortifacients would violate U.S. policy that forbids U.S. financial support for abortion overseas. She also said the material could be used “in a kind of forced sterilization framework that some nations do apply” that the U.S. cannot contribute to.
Bruce also stated that there were no HIV/AIDs drugs included and that the birth control was purchased by the previous administration.
The fact that the proposed alternative to destroying the contraceptive commodities would require a violation of the President’s expanded Mexico City Policy illustrates the near impossibility of separating family planning from abortion in international aid.
The pending destruction — reportedly to happen in France — has generated an outcry from abortion advocates and lawmakers in the U.S., Belgium and France. Yet, the discontent seems limited to the same western countries that have long underwritten population control policies in Africa, and the global abortion groups that campaign to decriminalize abortion.
Two such campaigning abortion groups, International Planned Parenthood Federation and MSI Reproductive Choices, that operate thousands of affiliate organizations throughout Africa, offered to purchase the contraceptives at a discounted price. Both organizations have reported recent loss of U.S. funding.
MSI Reproductive Choices formerly referred to as Marie Stopes, has been the main driver of legislation to decriminalize abortion in Sierra Leone for the past decade.
Sierra Leone Member of Parliament Rebekah Yei Kamara told the Friday Fax she agrees with the U.S. decision to destroy the contraceptives. Kamara and her Pro-Life MP colleagues have fought for years to keep the MSI-sponsored abortion bill from passing.
Kamara explained the need for international assistance to pivot from contraception to maternal healthcare. “Contraception has destroyed a lot of women, and they are now suffering from uterus problems,” she said.
Sierra Leone’s First Lady Dr. Fatima Madaa Bio has responded to the overwhelming need for genuine maternal care, by launching a fund for women suffering from uterus and fibroid issues. Kamara said a shift to maternal health will help women become pregnant, safely give birth and become the mothers they desire to be.
The dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and reorganization of foreign assistance under Secretary of State Marco Rubio could translate to a global health ethos that seeks to optimize health including eradicating preventable maternal deaths.
USAID’s approach to preventing maternal deaths in the past has been to prevent pregnancy by providing contraceptives. The concept of “unmet need” was created by family planning advocates to generate urgency for contraceptive funding, though the metric is misleading and does not equate to a lack of access or an actual demand for family planning. Nonetheless, the U.S. Congress has appropriated billions of dollars for overseas family planning which has made its way to organizations whose primary goal is to make abortion a human right.
Imposing Mexico City Policy to all global health by President Trump in his first administration was meant to prevent lining the pockets of these groups operating overseas and making the U.S. taxpayer complicit in global abortion. While pro-life advocates were pleased with the expansion, they hope the current policy will extend to all foreign assistance since abortion groups are now recipients of humanitarian assistance.
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