Sexual health expertise centre Sensoa and the NGO 11.11.11 have protested against the destruction of millions of condoms and other contraceptives being stored in a Flemish warehouse.
The warehouse belonging to the US development organisation USAID in Geel, Antwerp province, stores contraceptives and HIV medication intended for countries with inadequate healthcare. Following president Donald Trump’s decision to abolish USAID, the stockpile is not being distributed.
Washington wants to have the stock destroyed. The US government considers some contraceptives to be abortion aids and wants to prevent them from being distributed. Another stockpile is located in the United Arab Emirates, together worth 12 million dollars.
The decision is deliberately cruel and puts human lives at risk
The Belgian groups protested at the American embassy in Brussels on Thursday morning.
Sensoa, 11.11.11, La Fédération Laïque de Centres de Planning Familial and International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network chanted “Shame, shame, shame, Trump is to blame.”
“The decision is deliberately cruel and puts human lives at risk,” said Boris Cruyssaert of Sensoa.
“This makes the American president partly responsible for 362,000 unplanned pregnancies, 161,000 unplanned births, 110,000 unsafe – including illegal and dangerous – abortions and 718 preventable deaths linked to pregnancy. This is playing with people’s lives.”
The Belgian government has negotiated to take over the contraceptives but without success. “The possible destruction of millions of American contraceptives would be ethically outrageous,” Flemish Environment minister Jo Brouns said last week. “Moreover, the destruction of medicines falls under the Flemish incineration ban.”
The campaign has received a lot of attention from the international press. Cruyssaert: “We now have to wait and see whether our country can take further action, but we wanted to send this powerful signal.”
The possible destruction of millions of American contraceptives would be ethically outrageous