Are Abortion Pills Polluting Drinking Water? EPA Investigates

Federal environmental regulators are conducting an in-house assessment to explore whether remnants of abortion-inducing medications, such as mifepristone, are entering the nation’s sewage and potable water sources.

Advocates for the unborn have been raising alarm that these substances might be triggering unintended pregnancy losses and fetal deaths in affected areas without public awareness.

This examination, ordered by top EPA leadership earlier this summer, was prompted by a letter dated June 18 from 25 GOP congressional figures, among them Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford and Rep. Josh Brecheen.

In their correspondence, the legislators pressed EPA head Lee Zeldin to examine contamination risks from the medication, posing key queries like: “Does the EPA have validated techniques for identifying mifepristone and its breakdown products in water sources?” and “Should those be absent, what investments would enable their creation?”

Experts at the EPA focused on pollutant analysis told agency leaders that no standardized detection protocols are in place yet, though they could be engineered if deemed necessary.

This move represents a rare pivot for the EPA, which usually targets widespread pollutants such as PFAS compounds instead of individual drugs. Yet, pro-life organizations have celebrated it as an essential effort to uncover the unseen ecological impact of medication-based abortions, now comprising almost two-thirds of procedures in the country and ending countless unborn lives. They contend that mifepristone, which blocks progesterone to terminate pregnancies, along with fetal tissues, is being disposed of via flushing, bypassing medical waste rules and tainting water downstream.

The letter from Congress highlighted: “[M]ifepristone acts as a strong progesterone inhibitor, altering hormone levels in expectant mothers to cause abortion. This prompts concerns over its possible role as an endocrine disruptor in water supplies,” adding that “lingering traces of the substance and its byproducts in effluent could impair reproductive health over time, affecting individuals of any gender.”

Sen. Lankford elaborated on these worries during a segment on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” explaining: “It’s disturbing, but a lot of wastewater gets processed” at treatment centers and re-enters “drinking supplies further along. Filtration doesn’t remove all impurities.”

He continued: “Things like PFAS … drugs, and various chemicals frequently remain present.”

“What are the implications when it cycles back into tap water? Might it influence fertility down the line? Could it lead to spontaneous abortions? These questions remain unanswered due to a lack of research.”

The agency admitted in a September report that as much as 10% of pollutants can endure initial wastewater processing phases, a gap that pro-life experts say permits mifepristone traces to persist. Wastewater workers have reported discovering intact unborn remains at plants in states including South Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Mississippi, highlighting what supporters describe as a widespread failure to handle human remnants appropriately.

Liberty Counsel Action claims there are violations to the Clean Water Act according to a 78-page report coauthored by the group which defines pollutants to include “biological materials” and “medical waste” such as “human blood and blood products; pathological wastes” and “body parts,” as well as the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates environmental impact statements for actions with “reasonably foreseeable significant effect on the quality of the human environment.”

According to the paper, no environmental reviews occurred before the FDA’s greenlights for mifepristone in 2000, 2016, or 2022.

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