Florida Representative Lois Frankel (D) slammed President Donald Trump and his administration after he announced plans to destroy nearly $10 million worth of contraceptives funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that were intended for distribution across the third world.
“Trump’s plan to incinerate these supplies is wasteful and denies lifesaving care to an estimated 1.4M women worldwide,” she said.
Rep. Frankel argued that these contraceptives cannot be used to perform abortions and noted that U.S. foreign aid funds cannot supply or fund materials required for abortions.
“Birth control pills, IUDs, and HIV prevention meds aren't used to perform abortions. In fact, our foreign assistance dollars can’t be used to fund abortions,” she added.
The proposed contraceptives have been sitting in a warehouse in Belgium for months after President Trump froze all U.S foreign aid and shuttered USAID earlier this year.
Over 75% of the withheld stockpiles were designated for five countries in Africa. Those countries include Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Mali, and the Congo, according to a report from the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
The same report also estimated that roughly 1.4 million women and girls in those countries will go without access to reproductive care.
In the aftermath of President Trump’s order, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, and MSI Reproductive Choices, a reproductive health care group in the U.K., attempted to purchase the stockpiles but were both denied.
As a result of the stagnation, Democratic lawmakers have introduced bills in the House and Senate to force Secretary of State Marco Rubio to distribute the food supplies and contraceptives that have already been procured to their intended beneficiaries before they expire.
Simultaneously, a coalition of lawmakers spearheaded by New York Representative Grace Meng (D) has requested via a letter to Inspector General Arne B. Bakeran to launch an investigation into the alleged mismanagement of the contraceptives.
