Group urges EPA to classify mifepristone as drinking water contaminant

(Liberty Counsel Action) Liberty Counsel Action (LCA) presented testimony and written commentary to the Science Advisory Board (SAB) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommending that the abortion drug Mifepristone be listed on a drinking water contaminant list for monitoring and evaluation.

LCA urged the SAB’s Drinking Water Committee, comprised of experts in various realms of environmental and water-related science, to list Mifepristone on the Contaminant Candidate List 6. This list is a regulatory tool under the Safe Drinking Water Act that identifies contaminants that are not yet subject to any water protection regulations.

LCA was only one of two organizations to present the Mifepristone issue to the committee. In its presentation, LCA Public Policy Analyst Abigail Forman summarized LCA’s 41-page written comment by presenting the key concern behind the abortion drug.

In summary, Forman reported that Mifepristone was designed, and FDA approved, to end the life of an unborn child. As a result, the drug generates medical waste setting it apart from other drugs, and contains active metabolites that retain the ability to block progesterone, a vital fertility hormone.

Mifepristone is widely used at home by approximately 700,000 women annually, but conventional wastewater and drinking water treatment plants are not designed to remove these contaminants. Since we know components of the drug have been found in rivers and wastewater effluents internationally, Forman noted that it is highly likely Americans are ingesting trace amounts of a still active progesterone-blocking drug—a vital concern as the nation faces a fertility crisis.

Forman also cited a 2024 scientific study describing Mifepristone as widely distributed in the environment and among the most alarming public health concerns. 

The Drinking Water Committee is meeting between June and August 2026 to review the Contaminant Candidate List 6 and consider additional contaminants that should be included on the list. Since the list is only updated every five years, Forman stated that listing Mifepristone on this specific upcoming list matters because it will name the drug as a distinct contaminant out from under a broader pharmaceuticals category and will guarantee the drug will get evaluated without a delay of another five years.

Underscoring this, Forman pointed out that while the EPA may choose to prioritize drugs on the “Human Health Benchmarks for Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water” review, that list currently does not include Mifepristone. However, it does include the second drug in the abortion pill regimen, Misoprostol, “even though it has a very short half-life—about 30 minutes—and is excreted as inactive metabolites.” Forman also noted that Misoprostol is listed for its ability to reduce the risk of NSAID-induced gastric ulcers, not for its abortifacient properties.

“By contrast, Mifepristone has a long half-life exceeding 30 hours and produces active metabolites, making it far more likely to persist in the environment and ultimately be ingested in drinking water,” Forman stated. “This inconsistency aligns with a pattern that has become even more apparent in recent years—the unwillingness of politically neutral, objective entities to even question let alone criticize anything having to do with abortion. The EPA should treat Mifepristone as the distinct contaminant that it is and include it and its metabolites by name on the final list to avoid monitoring and research delays.”

Liberty Counsel Action President John Stemberger said, “The federal government needs to properly evaluate Mifepristone's  environmental and public health implications, which have been ignored for far too long. By being named directly on Contaminant Candidate List 6, it will get the evaluation it needs and will not be overlooked by the EPA.”