US Destruction of Contraceptives: France Says It Has 'No Means' to 'Requisition Stocks'
France assured on Friday, August 1, that it had "no means of requisitioning" the stocks of female contraceptives blocked in Europe, which the American administration wishes to destroy, to the great displeasure of associations and the left who denounce a "huge waste" .
"Since contraceptives are not drugs of major therapeutic interest and in this case we are not in a situation of supply tension, we have no means of requisitioning stocks," the French Ministry of Health told Agence France-Presse (AFP). He specified that he had no information on where these contraceptives were to be incinerated, some media having mentioned a planned destruction in France.
After the revelation of the affair by the British daily The Guardian , The US administration, engaged in drastic cuts to its humanitarian aid and an anti-abortion policy, confirmed in mid-July that it intended to destroy female contraceptives, mainly implants and IUDs, stored in a warehouse in Geel, Belgium.
These products, which were intended for women living in particular in sub-Saharan Africa, came from contracts with USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, signed under President Joe Biden.
According to several media reports, these contraceptives, worth $9.7 million (€8.3 million), were to be incinerated "at the end of July" in France by a company specializing in the destruction of medical waste. However, AFP has not yet been able to confirm this information from an official source.
“Economic and human waste”Several international organizations working on the issue of contraception have stated that they have unsuccessfully proposed to the US administration to purchase and repackage contraceptive stocks.
French feminist associations and unions launched a petition on Wednesday against the US administration's decision to destroy these female contraceptives, urging Paris to oppose it.
This decision "directly attacks women's rights to choose their maternity" , "returns them to unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and their attendant complications" , wrote the collective "Abortion in Europe: Women Decide", at the origin of this petition, which collected 12,000 signatures on the Change platform .
"We will not allow this unfair and sexist decision to be implemented, a waste of both economic and human resources," warned the group, which includes the Family Planning Association, the United Trade Union Federation (FSU), Osez le féminisme (Dare to be Feminist) and the Human Rights League. "We demand that humanitarian organizations willing to redistribute these contraceptives (...) be able to use them," it said.
Pointing to the "opacity" of France's position, the signatories of the petition believe that the country, which in March 2024 became the first to explicitly include abortion in its Constitution, "cannot deviate from a commitment to feminist diplomacy while [it] claims to serve as an international model."
Diplomatic actions by BelgiumThe Greens, for their part, sent an open letter to Emmanuel Macron on Saturday asking him to intervene "urgently" to prevent the destruction, planned by the United States, of female contraceptives stored in Belgium, which could be incinerated in France.
The leader of the La France Insoumise deputies, Mathilde Panot, as well as several elected members of the "Insoumis" movement also urged Emmanuel Macron and the Prime Minister, François Bayrou, to "act to prevent this destruction, which will cost lives" .
Belgium announced earlier this week that it had initiated "diplomatic approaches" with the US embassy in Brussels and was "exploring all possible avenues to avoid the destruction of these products, including temporary relocation solutions."
"We are closely monitoring the situation and support the Belgian authorities' desire to find a solution to avoid the destruction of contraceptives," the French health ministry told AFP on Wednesday, adding that "the defense of sexual and reproductive health and rights is one of France's foreign policy priorities."
"We have been informed that these boxes of contraceptives are starting to be cleared, but we don't know where the trucks are and whether they have arrived in France," said Sarah Durocher, president of the Family Planning Association, on Thursday, adding: "We are calling on all incineration companies to oppose this senseless decision." "I don't see anyone in France who would accept this happening," added Marine Tondelier, leader of the Ecologists, on BFM-TV/RMC: "We absolutely must know where it will be incinerated."
The World with AFP
Contribute
Reuse this content
