What begins with the abortion pill does not necessarily end when the abortion is over.
Once taken, the abortion drug and biological remnants from the abortion enter a toilet, a sewer system, and eventually a wastewater treatment facility that was never designed to remove every pharmaceutical compound.
The chemical is only part of what enters the system. Liberty Counsel Action estimates that 30 to 40 tons of hazardous medical waste, including human remains, are being flushed into American waterways.
That makes mifepristone different from the other pharmaceuticals already raising concerns in the water supply. It was developed and FDA-approved to end a life in the womb by blocking progesterone, the hormone needed to sustain a pregnancy.
But does that anti-progesterone activity disappear once the drug enters the water system?
Issues in Law & Medicine,a study reported anti-progesterone activity in environmental water samples from Austin, Texas; Blacksburg, Virginia; and Carbondale, Illinois. The study does not establish that exposure through drinking water causes infertility, nor does it determine where the anti-progesterone activity originated. But it raises a question that has received remarkably little investigation: what happens after mifepristone enters the water system?
They also found that downstream levels were not appreciably lower than upstream levels in any of the three cities. In two, they were higher. The authors concluded that conventional water treatment was not consistently effective at removing the activity they detected.cking progesterone, what happens after it enters the water system?Could environmental exposure be one factor worth investigating when approximately 1 in 6 people of reproductive age worldwide experience infertility during their lifetime?Abigail Forman is a researcher and policy analyst with Liberty Counsel Action and the author of a comprehensive analysis on abortion drugs in America's water supply. She joins Dear Jane to walk through what the abortion industry and federal regulators have largely left unaddressed.
Abigail Forman is a researcher and policy analyst with Liberty Counsel Action and the author of a comprehensive analysis on abortion drugs in America's water supply. She joins Dear Jane to walk through the research, explain what she believes the abortion industry and federal regulators have largely left unaddressed, and discuss why these questions deserve closer attention.
She also raises a question that stops the conversation cold: if women were required to decide whether to cremate or bury what the abortion pill produces, would more of them think twice?
Her argument reaches beyond the pro-life movement. You do not have to be pro-life to care about abortion drugs entering the water supply. And because chemical abortions account for roughly two-thirds of abortions in the United States, Abigail argues that water-contamination regulations could change the abortion landscape almost overnight.
the abortion pill now accounts for roughly two0-thirds of abortions in the Uni
Visit abortioninourwater.org to learn more about the research and current efforts calling on the EPA to investigate. The comment period closes August 31, 2026.
Watch the full episode of Dear Jane.
