GOP lawmakers ask for water study on abortion pills

By Miranda Willson | 05/30/2024 01:14 PM EDT

The request to EPA follows anti-abortion group claims that the pills cause pollution.

Sen. Marco Rubio departs a vote at the U.S. Capitol.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wants federal regulators to study the environmental impacts of abortion pills. Francis Chung/POLITICO

Republican lawmakers urged EPA this week to assess “potential” environmental pollution from abortion pills, echoing a long-shot legal argument championed by anti-abortion organizations.

The Biden administration should conduct a “full assessment” of mifepristone, the leading chemical abortion pill, in waterways and wastewater streams, the lawmakers said in a letter to EPA administrator Michael Regan.

The letter was signed by Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, GOP Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, and others.

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The incidence of chemical-induced abortions has increased significantly amid new restrictions and bans on abortion procedures in well over a dozen states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

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