DOGE bungled destruction of $10M contraceptives amid internal confusion

Published Jul 14, 03:21 PM UTC

The Trump administration, amid Elon Musk's dismantling of USAID, announced plans to destroy a $10 million stockpile of contraceptives stored in Belgium, intended for women in Africa. The administration falsely claimed the contraceptives were abortifacients and had been destroyed. Newly disclosed emails, obtained via a lawsuit by the Center for Reproductive Rights, reveal internal chaos: officials at the U.S. Embassy in Belgium admitted ignorance of the warehouse's contents, and a State Department official listed items as 'abortifacients' that the FDA does not classify as such. In reality, the contraceptives were largely ruined due to improper storage, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. The reporting adds to evidence of incompetence within Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).