The United States is preparing to destroy female contraceptives stored in Belgium, products that could then be incinerated in France. Faced with this situation, the Greens sent a letter this Saturday to President Emmanuel Macron, asking him to intervene.
These contraceptives (implants, IUDs), worth $9.7 million (nearly €8.3 million), are intended for “low- and middle-income countries as part of the programs of the United States Agency for International Development” (USAID), which was dismantled by President Trump’s administration, write the Greens. Their letter is signed by the Green Party leader, Marine Tondelier, and several female parliamentarians.
“We refuse to allow France to become the dumping ground for American ultra-conservatives.”
This American decision is “an affront to the fundamental principles of solidarity, public health, and sexual and reproductive rights that France is committed to defending,” they added. They urge Emmanuel Macron “not to be complicit, even indirectly, in retrograde policies.”
“Cutting aid for contraception is a disgrace; destroying products that have already been manufactured and financed is even more mind-boggling,” Marine Tondelier told AFP. “Since this incineration must take place on French soil, we have the means to oppose it. We refuse to allow France to become the dumping ground for American ultra-conservatives,” she added on social media, referring to a “Trumpian delusion.”
The Greens are calling on the head of state, “as part of a joint initiative with the European Commission,” to suspend this destruction. They also want Emmanuel Macron to “explicitly” support the humanitarian organizations that have said they are “ready to redistribute these contraceptives.”
