Emails detail confusion in State Department over Trump plan to destroy contraceptives [WaPo] ↳

Newly disclosed emails obtained through a Center for Reproductive Rights FOIA lawsuit reveal that State Department officials could not determine what was inside the Belgian warehouse holding $9.7 million in USAID-purchased family planning supplies. The Washington Post reports the administration never destroyed the commodities, instead letting them expire.

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South African civil groups warn of dire impact as U.S. phases out HIV program funding [PBS NewsHour] ↳

As the Trump administration phases out more than $400 million in annual PEPFAR support for South Africa, civil society groups report that adolescent girls and women are among the first to feel the impact, with prevention services, community-based PrEP delivery, and outreach to high-risk populations hit hardest as clinics shut down, front-line workers lose jobs, and the health system prioritizes treatment continuity over prevention, according to PBS.

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The Trump-blocked contraceptives that never reached Kenya: "I am not ready to have another baby" [El País] ↳

El País travels to Nairobi to meet women left without contraception after the dismantling of USAID stranded $9.7 million in pills, IUDs, condoms, and implants in Belgian warehouses facing destruction or expiration, with public clinics that relied on USAID for their supplies now recording months of zero stock and post-abortion care cases up 50%. An estimated 108,000 Kenyan women will lose implant access this year.

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The Trump team is quietly eliminating U.S. support for birth control abroad [NPR] ↳

The Trump administration has moved to systematically eliminate U.S. support for international family planning, once the world's largest, covering over 40% of global donor funding, shuttering clinics, firing health workers, and creating massive contraceptive shortages. The President’s proposed FY2027 budget explicitly targets birth control funding for elimination, NPR reports.

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Impact Feed, Impact Feed Home The Globe and Mail Impact Feed, Impact Feed Home The Globe and Mail

Without USAID, Ethiopia’s mothers bear the costs [The Globe and Mail] ↳

The Trump administration's shuttering of USAID — which had injected roughly $200 million annually into Ethiopia's health care system — has left pregnant women paying out of pocket for ultrasounds, prenatal vitamins, and delivery room supplies that were once free, threatening to reverse decades of progress on maternal mortality, The Globe and Mail reports.

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Impact Feed, Impact Feed Home The Guardian Impact Feed, Impact Feed Home The Guardian

Maternal mortality rises in US aid-dependent countries under Republican presidents, study shows [The Guardian] ↳

A new study finds that Republican presidencies are associated with a 10.5% increase in maternal deaths in countries with above-average reliance on U.S. family planning aid. According to The Guardian, over 90% of all USAID awards for reproductive health programs have been terminated since the start of 2025, deepening concerns that decades of progress are being rapidly undone.

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Weaponizing US foreign aid: Trump’s new 2026 global gag rule [Guttmacher Institute] ↳

The Guttmacher Institute warns that, on top of actions already taken to dismantle USAID and cut international family planning assistance, the sweeping new Global Gag Rule policy threatens to deepen harm to an estimated 50 million women and girls in low- and middle-income countries already denied contraceptive care.

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Impact Feed, Impact Feed Home The Daily Nation Impact Feed, Impact Feed Home The Daily Nation

Inside Sierra Leone’s busiest maternity hospital as aid cuts bite [The Daily Nation] ↳

Sierra Leone's Princess Christian Maternity Hospital is running short of basic surgical supplies, as U.S. and U.K. aid cuts threaten to reverse nearly 80% of the progress the country has made in reducing maternal mortality since 2000, according to the Daily Nation. The U.S. cuts represented a $45 million reduction in maternal, child, and adolescent health projects.

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Impact Feed, Impact Feed Home El Pais Impact Feed, Impact Feed Home El Pais

Three women, three countries and a global crisis [El Pais] ↳

El País follows three women across three countries to show how the collapse of U.S. foreign aid has hit women and girls hardest, stripping away maternal care, family planning, and gender-based violence protections that their governments had long neglected. The piece underscores a stark milestone: 2025 marked the first year in a quarter century that child mortality rose, a trend researchers link directly to the dismantling of USAID and the elimination of 94% of U.S. funding for sexual and reproductive health.

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