WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Government officials are looking into whether methods to detect abortion pill chemicals in the U.S. water supply can be developed, following a push by Students for Life.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials instructed scientists this summer to determine whether methods to detect traces of abortion pills in wastewater could be developed. While no current EPA-approved such methods currently exist, new methods can be developed, two anonymous sources recently told The New York Times.
The disclosure follows a request from 25 Republican members of Congress asking the EPA to investigate the matter.
“Are there existing E.P.A.-approved methods for detecting mifepristone and its active metabolites in water supplies?” the congressmen asked in a June 18 letter. “If not, what resources are needed to develop these testing methods?”
The lawmakers noted that mifepristone is a “potent progesterone blocker” that disrupts hormonal balance and could “potentially interfere with a person’s fertility, regardless of sex.”
Students for Life had reignited a campaign, following the overturn of Roe v. Wade to investigate traces of abortion pills as well as fetal remains in wastewater. The group said that mifepristone and the fetal remains could potentially hurt humans, animals, and the environment.
In November 2022, Students for Life employees lamented that government agencies were not checking wastewater for abortion pill chemicals and resolved to hire their own “student investigators” to test the water.
The campaign fizzled out under the Biden administration. In the spring of 2024, eleven members of Congress including Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the current secretary of state, wrote to the EPA asking how the growing use of abortion pills might impact the water supply.
The EPA found that it had not conducted any previous research on the subject but did not initiate any new related investigation, according to two officials.
Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins announced on Friday, “Three Democrat presidents recklessly pushed Chemical Abortion Pills. Now the EPA is finally investigating Abortion Pill Pollution.”
“50+ TONS of chemically tainted blood and tissue enter our waterways every year,” she continued on X. “It’s up to President Trump and his team to clean up their mess.”
Three Democrat presidents recklessly pushed Chemical Abortion Pills. Now the EPA is finally investigating Abortion Pill Pollution.
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) October 10, 2025
