US threatens to destroy $9 million contraceptive stockpile in Belgium, sparking protests

Dozens of women’s rights activists protested outside the US embassy in Brussels on Thursday, decrying potential Trump administration plans to destroy a $9 million stockpile of life-saving contraceptive supplies intended for women in conflict zones and refugee camps across Africa.

Chanting “shame, shame, shame, Trump is to blame,” approximately 50 demonstrators gathered with stark visual aids, including wooden crosses inscribed with “700+ women dead.”

Their outrage is directed at a warehouse in Geel, Belgium, where millions of dollars worth of US-taxpayer-funded contraceptive pills, implants, and IUDs are sitting in limbo.

Advocates warn that destroying the supplies would have a devastating human toll, leading to an estimated 362,000 unwanted pregnancies and over 700 maternal deaths.

"A huge impact on real people's lives"

The supplies were designated for five African nations—the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania, and Zambia—where access to contraception is already severely limited.

Micah Grzywnowicz, regional director for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, emphasized the scale of the potential loss.

“In Tanzania those supplies that were supposed to be sent [represent] one-third of the whole need of the health system,” Grzywnowicz stated. “It is one and a half million women and girls who were supposed to get life-saving supplies. It's a huge impact on real people's lives and their health.”

A political battle over bodily autonomy

Activists frame the threatened destruction not as a fiscal decision but as a deliberate political strategy.

“It is evident that this is a strategy. It is a long-term effort to dismantle the global health system we currently have,” Grzywnowicz told The Associated Press, adding, “This is about control – over our bodies, our decision-making.”

The US State Department has stated no final decision has been made.

Meanwhile, Belgian authorities have taken steps to protect the stockpile, implementing a ban on incinerating reusable goods and alerting local facilities to warn officials of any attempt to destroy the contraceptives.