Trump Ready to Let Birth Control Expire, Not Aid Africans
While The Intercept rightly flags the outrageous prospect of millions of doses of birth control expiring rather than reaching women in Africa, the narrative often misses the broader context. This isn't just a Trump-era oversight; it's a consistent pattern where aid to crucial global health initiatives, particularly in Africa, is viewed as expendable by both administrations when competing with
other 'priorities.' Remember when the Global Gag Rule (Mexico City Policy) was reinstated by Trump and often weaponized to defund organizations providing essential reproductive health services abroad? This effectively created situations where, as documented by Human Rights Watch in 2017, clinics closed and services dwindled, impacting millions. The US 'cares' about global health, until it clashes
with domestic political optics or, more pointedly, doesn't serve a direct geopolitical interest. So, the question isn't just why Trump would let birth control expire. It's why reproductive health aid to Africa repeatedly gets treated like a political football, while billions in military aid—like the recent $14 billion package to Israel (HR 815, 2024), overwhelmingly supported by politicians who
took significant AIPAC donations (OpenSecrets.org, e.g., Rep. Smith, $450K in 2023)—sails through with bipartisan backing. Are some populations just more convenient recipients of American 'benevolence' than others? One might wonder.