Fourteen state attorneys general are asking the EPA to classify the abortion drug mifepristone as a water pollutant. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Republican attorneys general from 14 states and 19 GOP members of Congress have asked U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to classify and regulate the abortion drug mifepristone as a water pollutant.
Mifepristone is prescribed as part of a two-drug regimen to terminate a pregnancy. Studies have shown that medical abortion is unthreatening and effective.
In a letter last Friday, state officials argued that mifepristone poses a “growing threat to the nation’s waterways.” The letter was signed by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.
In parallel letterled by Republican Chris Smith of New Jersey, made similar claims and was signed by 18 other Republican members of Congress.
Experts in environmental health sciences to talk there is no evidence that mifepristone in sewage causes harm to the environment or people.
“There is no evidence that medication abortion affects U.S. water systems, including drinking water and wildlife.” – Center for Biological Diversity, which advocates for stronger environmental protections – we read on our website.
The Republican Party’s letters cite a 1996 statement from the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research that stated that “mifepristone’s adverse effects on the environment were not anticipated,” while acknowledging that the drug can enter the environment through excretion or disposal of pharmaceutical waste. But experts say traces of drugs in water are common, and state environmental agencies and scientists check for harmful contaminants in water as part of protocols and testing.
In 2025, state lawmakers in seven states introduced nine bills that included statements regarding medical abortion and its impact on the environment and water. State lawmakers have also introduced legislation calling for testing of mifepristone in water systems.
Last year, Republican members of Congress expressed similar concerns in: letter to the EPA.
United States Supreme Court I decided last month to preserve telehealth access to mifepristone pending a ruling by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the merits of the high-stakes federal lawsuit Louisiana v. Food and Drug Administration.
Medication abortion included almost two thirds of all abortions performed by clinicians in states without abortion bans in 2023, according to the latest data available from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on supporting reproductive rights.
Stateline reporter Nada Hassanein can be reached at: nhassanein@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by state linewhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes the Ohio Capital Journal and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
