ICYMI: EPA Is The Latest Federal Agency Weaponized Against Abortion Access
Agency will start testing water for abortion pills, handing anti-abortion extremists a new pretext to go after medication abortion
WASHINGTON, DC –– Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will begin tracking mifepristone and misoprostol in water nationwide. It’s the latest federal agency toward the anti-abortion movement's agenda, and it hands extremists exactly what they've spent years demanding: a federal data collection effort they can wave around while pushing baseless environmental claims designed to strip access to medication abortion.
In response, Gowri Buddiga, Campaign Director for Free & Just released the following statement:
“Mifepristone has been safely used for 25 years, and no amount of junk science is going to change that. What's changed is that this administration will hand the anti-abortion movement any agency it wants, including one that has no business anywhere near women's reproductive care."
None of this is happening in isolation. Anti-abortion extremists are pressing the FDA to revoke approval of medication abortion. Heidi Overton's nomination would put an abortion opponent at the top of the agency that regulates it. And Attorney General Todd Blanche has committed to "make Dobbs permanent." Medication abortion is still legal and still available. The open question is, how much longer do extremists inside the federal government intend to let that stand?
Abortion medication is safe, effective, and has been FDA approved for over twenty years. It is currently used in nearly two-thirds of abortions across the country; restricting access to medication abortion could eliminate care for 64.5 million people.
Anti-abortion extremists are spreading misinformation and junk-science to advance a dangerous agenda. The EPA’s own findings show that it would take months—even decades—of drinking two liters of raw, untreated wastewater every day to reach the equivalent of a single dose of most common medications.
Bottomline: Anti-abortion extremists are pressuring federal agencies like EPA, Department of Justice, and the FDA to abandon years of evidence-based research and ban medication abortion nationwide.
New data from Reproductive Freedom for All and Impact Research finds that Americans across the political spectrum are nearly as opposed to a national abortion ban as they are to middle class tax increases and sweeping cuts to Medicaid. Still, Trump and anti-abortion extremists are weaponizing federal agencies to launch deadly new attacks on access to reproductive health care.
If you are interested in speaking with patients, physicians, or advocates about EPA’s anti-abortion efforts, please contact malachi@freeandjust.us.
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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.