After two months of speculation, the fate of approximately $9.7 million worth of contraceptives stored in a Belgian warehouse—including IUDs, implants, pills, and condoms originally intended for women in low-income countries—still hangs in the balance. In July, the State Department confirmed its plans to destroy the contraception at taxpayer expense because it refused to distribute or sell the products, despite multiple offers from civil society and the Belgian Government to purchase and distribute the products and an internal proposal to sell the products to the United Nations Population Fund.

On September 11, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) released a statement falsely claiming that the contraceptives had been destroyed. However, shortly thereafter, Belgian authorities confirmed that the supplies remained in the storage facility. The USAID statement also falsely called the contraceptives “abortifacient[s],” despite the fact that the stockpile does not contain any abortion supplies. Contraception, commonly known as birth control, prevents pregnancy, while abortion ends pregnancy. The conflation of birth control and abortion is an anti-abortion tactic used to restrict bodily autonomy and decrease access to all reproductive health care. The Center for Reproductive Rights along with 75 other advocacy groups sent a letter to Secretary Rubio opposing the destruction.