According to estimates by the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition, if the remaining stock is ultimately lost, around 1.4 million women in Africa could lose access to contraception, leading to an estimated 362,000 unintended pregnancies, 161,000 unplanned births, and 110,000 unsafe abortions.

The story began in early 2025. Shortly after returning to office, Donald Trump began dismantling USAID. In July 2025, Congress approved a further €7,9 billion cut to foreign assistance, and €8,5 million worth of contraceptives got caught in the middle. At that point, the stock had already reached Belgium on the way to its final destinations.

The US administration then announced plans to burn the contraceptives rather than release them, despite offers from international humanitarian organisations such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation, MSI Reproductive Choices, and the United Nations to purchase and redistribute them. The decision prompted diplomatic efforts by Belgium's Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot to prevent the destruction.

Most of the roughly 20 truckloads of contraceptives have since expired, but four could still be distributed if an agreement were reached soon. Only about €1,5 million worth of contraceptives remain potentially recoverable, while €7 million are now considered unusable.

“These products are still perfectly usable,” Delphine Chabbert, director of the Belgian Federation of Secular Family Planning Centres, said. “The situation has become increasingly paradoxical and shows that maintaining the status quo is an ideological choice.”

According to a recent report by the USAID Office of Inspector General, the US government is spending around €21,000 a month storing the contraceptives in Belgium, totalling more than €315,500 so far.

The deadlock is political rather than logistical. “Keeping the contraceptives in storage costs the US government more than releasing them. Yet every proposal to buy the stock has been rejected,” Chabbert told us.

Sara Salarkiya, international policy adviser at Sensoa, the Flemish centre of expertise on sexual health, told us Belgium's Foreign Ministry has spent more than a year trying to negotiate their release with Washington. “But so far without success.”