Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has joined 13 other states in calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to place tighter restrictions on the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone, saying it poses a risk to the water supply.
Rokita signed on to a letter claiming at-home chemical abortions have been on the rise, resulting in a risk to the water supply. The letter says women, particularly pregnant women, could have health complications if mifepristone reaches a certain concentration.
Medical experts say the claims are without evidence and are part of a continued effort to limit abortion access.
Caitlin Bernard, an OB-GYN in Indianapolis, says there’s no evidence for those claims.
“There's certainly no data, for example, to suggest that, you know, trace amounts of mifepristone in drinking water would induce an abortion, cause complications in a pregnancy, or for pregnant people,” Bernard said.
Bernard says the drug is being politically targeted.
“I don't know how many, you know, maybe hundreds of thousands of medications are approved by the FDA for use in the United States, and this is the only one that anybody is concerned about being in the water supply,” Bernard said.
A newly proposed list of water contaminants by the federal government does include some pharmaceuticals. That list does not include mifepristone.