The Trump administration to burn birth control of $ 13 million, despite NGOs offered to take it

The US State Department plans a stone of about $ 13.2 million of women’s contraceptives despite the offers of multiple relief agencies to distribute supplies without any cost.

The supplies, which include various forms of birth control, were dedicated to family planning programs in low -income African countries.

Instead, they were sitting in a warehouse in Belgium for several months after the administration of President Donald Trump froze most of the foreign aid in January.

The reproductive company MSI, a global reproductive health organization in the United Kingdom, says it has offered to take supplies and distribute them to the needy without any cost of the government, but their offer has been reprimanded.

” As it happens Paul Hunter guest host.

“This is just another interface in the war on women we currently see out of the United States, both local and international.”

Shaw says that MSI was told by a mediator that the government wants to sell products at the market value, which the charity could not do.

The United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, offered the purchase of contraceptives directly, but to no avail, According to Reuters.

The US State Department did not answer questions from CBC. But Tommy Begut spokesman told the correspondents on Thursday that the government “is still in the process of determining the path forward.”

Belgium calls it “an unfortunate result”

The $ 9.7 million supplies were once a USAID agency, which was once USAID The Trump administration closed.

During a press conference on ThursdayPigott said that supplies do not include condoms or HIV drugs, but rather “selected products” purchased under the previous administration, which can be “can be compressed”, which means products that stimulate abortion.

But relief agencies and media organizations say that the supplies for the destruction are designed to prevent unwanted pregnancy, not to end them.

Reuters reports, cited seven secret sources close to the story, that the warehouse contains birth control and planting pills, as well as intrauterine devices, all forms of birth control.

Pigott said that the products can be a violation of the KEMP-KSTEN amendment, which prevents the government from supporting programs that participate in “forced abortion or inappropriate complexity”, in addition to the policy of Mexico, an agreement that prohibits the American government to contribute to organizations or work that provides services related to cancellation.

Shaw says that the latter can explain the reason for the United States rejecting MSI. Its organization refuses to comply with the policy of Mexico City, which she and other relief organizations refer to the name “Global Grape”.

She said this does not explain the reason they reject similar initiatives from others who are trying to prevent contraceptives from going to waste at the expense of taxpayers.

The Belgian Foreign Ministry said that Brussels had had talks with the American authorities and “exploring all possible options to prevent destruction, including temporary transportation.”

“Despite these efforts, and with our full respect for our partners, no applicable alternative can be secured. However, Belgium continues to search actively on solutions to avoid this unfortunate result,” she said in a statement.

“Sexual and reproductive health should not be subject to ideological restrictions.”

France in France

The Foreign Ministry previously confirmed that it will spend $ 167,000 ($ 228,000 from CDN) to burn birth control in France that treats medical waste.

This news does not sit well in France, where legislators, reproductive health organizations and feminist groups call on the government to cancel it.

“We are closely following this position and support the will of the Belgian authorities to find a solution to avoid the destruction of contraceptives,” The Foreign Ministry in France said in a statement published by the Guardian.

“Defending sexual health and reproductive rights is the priority of France’s foreign policy.”

Shu says she is grateful to people in France who defend this issue.

“Even if we cannot stop destroy, we will not leave this calmly,” she said. “If this happens on the French soil under a government with a feminist foreign policy, I think this will be a great disgrace, a big disgrace.”

Doctors Without Borders calls on the “reckless and harmful” plan

Avril Benoît, CEO of Doctors Without Borders in the United States, described the plan as “a harmful and harmful behavior against women and girls everywhere.”

“The contraceptive methods are necessary and health products to save life,” She said in a press release. ((Our Organization) witnessed the positive health benefits directly when women and girls can make naval health decisions by choosing or delaying pregnancy-and dangerous consequences when they cannot. “

Shaw agrees. She says that the United States has provided a big deal on finding government efficiency because it reduces global aid and its civil service.

But every dollar spends on reproductive health, she says, leads to a much larger saving on the road.

“It is not logical to me. If they really want efficiency, investing in family planning is the best investment you can do for development,” she said.

“You keep girls in schools. You can break the poverty courses in generations. You can create an opportunity for a new generation of young women.

“It is illogical. So it was a completely political action, and African women will pay the price of this.”