Abortion Opponents Push for New EPA Restrictions on Mifepristone, Citing ‘Significant Levels’ of Drug in American Waterways

Abortion opponents are touting a new study that they say backs up their concerns about abortion pills contaminating water, attempting a new approach to end the use of mifepristone after other efforts have failed.The Trump administration has frustrated abortion opponents over what they view as insufficient action aimed at stopping abortion pills. The use of pills to induce abortion has become the most common method of abortion since 2020. Conservative states with restrictions on abortion have struggled to stop out-of-state providers from shipping pills to their residents and have pushed the FDA to restrict access to the pills. With little success on that front, conservatives have turned to the Environmental Protection Agency to try to restrict abortion pills, using recent science to justify new regulations. A new study published in an online journal, Issues in Law and Medicine, says that researchers found “significant levels of mifepristone” in the waterways of Austin, Texas; Blacksburg, Virginia; and Carbondale, Illinois. They suggest hormones and other steroids in the drug may damage human and aquatic life.“Because of the plethora of effects of progesterone, this contaminant could affect the physiology of aquatic animals; and human health, including fertility, pregnancy and fetal development,” said the lead author of the study, Elise Rose, a longtime advocate for pro-life causes. “The findings indicate the necessity for significant additional investigation into the levels of various hormones and EDCs, including mifepristone, in water sources.”The authors of the study note that the EPA set “enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels at 4.0 parts per trillion” for forever chemicals in drinking water while they found mifepristone at levels up to 41 parts per trillion. Though the EPA has not offered guidance on how many parts per trillion of mifepristone is considered dangerous, supporters of the study nonetheless say the agency must add mifepristone and its generic versions to its Contaminant Candidate List, CCL, warranting further regulatory consideration.The study has been called into question by other researchers. A molecular toxicologist at Pennsylvania State University, Jack Vanden Heuvel, told Politico that the method used to test the samples could have detected various other compounds, such as BPA, which is commonly found in plastic products. Because the study did not look for other compounds that could cause the same reactions as mifepristone in the water samples tested, the methodology does not pass his peer-review sniff test, he said. Critics also sought to discredit the study because it was published in an online journal that is run by doctors who oppose abortion. Ms. Rose, however, pushed back on criticism of the testing method, saying the researchers contracted with a lab in the Netherlands to test the water for metabolites of mifepristone. She insists that any other compounds would have to be nearly identical to mifepristone to be detected. The study does acknowledge limits to its testing, including not knowing from where the mifepristone originates or the excretion levels of metabolites of mifespristone. “We do not know how long mifepristone stays in women’s tissues, or if it bioaccumulates,” the authors wrote. “Mifepristone is a steroid hormone, and therefore it is a fat-soluble molecule. Such a molecule might build up in fatty tissues rather than remain in the aqueous serum and be excreted. Further study of this possibility is warranted.”The president of Students for Life of America, Kristan Hawkins, said in a statement that the study shows that “we were right all along — some of us are drinking other people’s abortions.”“Within minutes of learning that the paper was published online, it was submitted to the EPA to be reviewed by the advisory committee, which will report to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin,” Ms. Hawkins added. The EPA said in a statement that it has received the study and is reviewing it. Last month, 14 Republican attorneys general sent a letter to the EPA asking the agency to study mifepristone, raising concerns that if mifepristone reaches “sufficient concentration” it could lead to increased risks for health complications.

Abortion Opponents Push for New EPA Restrictions on Mifepristone, Citing ‘Significant Levels’ of Drug in American Waterways

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