Attorney General Marshall Calls for Tighter Controls Posed by Abortion-Inducing Drug Mifepristone in American Waterways

For Immediate Release:
June 10, 2026

For press inquiries only, contact:
Amanda Priest (334) 322-5694
William Califf (334) 604-3230

(Montgomery, Ala) – Attorney General Steve Marshall called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to impose tighter controls on the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone, which presents a growing threat to the American public as chemically contaminated medical waste is flushed into the nation’s waterways. 

“There is a booming black-market for drug-inducing abortions operating completely outside of lawful medical oversight, and it has created a serious public health crisis. This is not just for those obtaining and using these illegal and dangerous drugs,” Attorney General Marshall said. “Our coalition is demanding the EPA add mifepristone and its generic equivalents to their official watch list for immediate monitoring of local waterways. As medical waste is discarded and washed away, it risks contaminating the very water supply millions of Americans drink every day, and the long-term consequences could be severe.” 

When a woman ingests mifepristone, it blocks the female body’s natural progesterone — thereby chemically destroying her baby’s uterine environment and preventing the baby from receiving nutrition. The baby, in effect, is starved to death in the womb. 

As part of a 14-state coalition, Attorney General Marshall is requesting that the EPA add mifepristone to other pharmaceuticals included on the Contaminant Candidate List — which may lead to stricter regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.   

“Over the last decade,” states the Missouri-led letter to the EPA, “the FDA has eliminated many of the protections that minimized the health risks posed by mifepristone and its approved generics, including the in-person dispensing and check-up requirements that kept medical staff involved in the process. Not only were the FDA’s changes to the regimen and risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) unlawful and unsafe, but the loosened regulations have also increased the number of chemical abortions occurring in the home, resulting in tons of chemically tainted medical waste being flushed into American waterways.” 

If mifepristone reaches sufficient concentration, pregnant women who unintentionally ingest the drug through the public water supply could be at greater risk of health complications than the general population. In addition, recent research suggests that mifepristone can affect reproductive organ development and fertility. 

Chemical abortions accounted for 63 percent of all U.S. abortions in the formal health care system as of 2023, compared to 31 percent in 2014 and 14 percent in 2005. These numbers do not include self-managed chemical abortions that occur when abortion providers mail mifepristone in violation of state law, which is also increasing. 

The letter can be read here. 

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