This story was initially revealed by Stateline.

Republican attorneys common from 14 states and 19 GOP members of Congress are asking U.S. Environmental Safety Company Administrator Lee Zeldin to categorise and regulate the abortion treatment mifepristone as a water contaminant.

Mifepristone is prescribed as a part of a two-drug treatment routine to terminate a being pregnant. Research have proven treatment abortion to be protected and efficient.

In a letter final Friday, the state officers argued that mifepristone is “a rising menace to the nation’s waterways.” The letter was signed by the attorneys common of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.

A concurrent letter, led by Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, made comparable claims and was signed by 18 different GOP members of Congress.

Environmental well being science consultants say there isn’t a proof that mifepristone in wastewater causes hurt to the atmosphere or to people.

“There’s no proof that treatment abortion is affecting U.S. water techniques, together with consuming water and aquatic wildlife,” the Heart for Organic Variety, which advocates for stronger environmental protections, says on its web site.

The GOP letters cite a 1996 FDA Heart for Drug Analysis and Analysis assertion that mentioned dangerous environmental results from mifepristone have been “not anticipated,” whereas acknowledging that the drug could enter the atmosphere through excretion or disposal of pharmaceutical waste. However drug hint quantities in water are a standard prevalence, consultants say, and state environmental companies and scientists test for dangerous contaminants in water as a part of protocols and analysis.

In 2025, state lawmakers in seven states launched 9 payments that included claims about treatment abortion and its results on the atmosphere and water. State lawmakers additionally launched laws calling for testing for mifepristone in water techniques.

Final yr, Republican members of Congress introduced up comparable issues in a letter to the EPA.

The U.S. Supreme Court docket determined final month to protect telehealth entry to mifepristone till after the U.S. fifth Circuit Court docket of Appeals has dominated on the deserves of the high-stakes federal lawsuit Louisiana v. Meals and Drug Administration.

Treatment abortion accounted for practically two-thirds of all clinician-provided abortions in states with out abortion bans in 2023, based on the newest information out there from the Guttmacher Institute, a analysis and coverage group targeted on advancing reproductive rights.

This story was initially produced by Stateline, which is a part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit information community that features Louisiana Illuminator.

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