Bangladesh, Dec. 3 -- For women and girls in low-income communities across Kenya, access to contraception has never been a luxury-it has been a lifeline. It is the difference between safety and danger, choice and coercion, life and death. But today, that system of support is collapsing. The unraveling began with radical policy shifts in Washington, intensified through an ideological crusade against reproductive rights, and is now taking its harshest toll thousands of miles away in Nairobis informal settlements.

Experts, activists, and community health workers warn that the US governments decision to destroy millions of dollars worth of contraceptives-supplies already purchased, shipped, and originally intended for African countries-will ...