Senate conservatives have expressed concern over potential adverse environmental impacts of increased abortion pill usage.
The legislators are responding to rising rates of mifepristone use after President Joe Biden directed the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) deregulation of the medicine.
Mifepristone, which is used with Misoprostol, accounts for half of the abortions that occur in the U.S. every year.
Mifepristone and Misoprostol are used to abort children before 11-weeks gestation by cutting off food supplies to the child and subsequently stimulating contractions and bleeding.
The remains of the unborn child are then disposed of by the user of the drugs.
US Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and several US House Representatives penned a letter outlining their worries to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan.
Namely, the Senators underscored how the increased use and disposal of mifepristone may increase levels of harmful chemicals and human remains in the US water system.
According to the Senators, the full environmental impact of mifepristone has never been sufficiently studied.
Given the last environmental impact assessment was conducted in 1996, the Senators argue new studies are warranted.
“Any studies that have been conducted in the past should be
repeated and updated to reflect the fact that the drug is far more prevalent today than it was three decades ago,” reads the letter.
The letter requests information from the FDA regarding measures, if any, that have been planned to ensure water safety in light mifepristone’s increasing popularity.
Senator Rubio claimed President Biden’s encouragement of the FDA’s mifepristone deregulation contradicted his climate promises.
“The Biden Admin preaches they’re pro-climate, yet they’re enabling abortion pill chemicals to get into our waterways,” said Rubio.
