CV NEWS FEED // Pro-life organization Students for Life (SFL) filed an amicus brief in a case concerning chemical abortion pills that is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that abortion pills have the potential to cause harm to the environment and endangered species as well as to women and unborn children.
The current case, U.S. Food & Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, challenges the FDA’s approval of abortion drug mifepristone in 2000. SFL’s amicus brief adds that the FDA “failed to consider the impact Mifepristone could have on the environment, specifically on endangered species or listed habitats, when approving Mifepristone in 2000, and its generic form in 2019.”
In a recent op-ed for Newsweek, SLF President Kristan Hawkins noted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns against flushing toxic substances down the toilet, including drugs, chemicals, and even goldfish. However, producers of abortion pills do not heed such warnings.
“Hospitals dispose of placentas carefully as medical waste, and brick-and-mortar abortion vendors are supposed to follow state laws with human remains,” she wrote. “Meanwhile, abortion pill mills send women away to bleed and to flush tainted blood, tissue, and human remains into the sewer system—and the environment.”
According to SFL’s amicus brief, “The Endangered Species Act requires federal agencies to follow certain restrictions when undertaking ‘actions’ that may harm listed species or habitats.”
Despite at least five opportunities to consult with national fish and wildlife services about the effects of chemical abortion pills on the environment, the FDA neglected to follow standard procedure.
“Multiple endangered species may be affected by the approval of Mifepristone, but the extent is unknown due to the FDA’s failure to consult as required by Section 7 of the [Endangered Species Act],” the amicus brief stated.
SFL also wrote letters to Congress and the EPA, demanding that the EPA begin investigating the potential effects of chemicals from abortion pills in drinking water. The EPA recently began tracking “forever chemicals” found in America’s drinking water and in recent years, and started to call attention to concerns of pollution in 2023.
“In light of this effort, we urge you to direct the EPA to conduct regular and comprehensive environmental testing for the presence of the abortion drug mifepristone in the same manner as testing is conducted for ‘forever chemicals’ or [per-and polyfluoroalkyl] chemicals,” SFL wrote to Congress.
Hawkins stated in a recent press release that “With the full support of the Democratic Party leadership, the FDA has been willing to ignore possible harms to endangered species from the pathological waste of Chemical Abortion Pills.”
She continued:
The reckless rejection of health & safety standards along with fast tracked approval has risked women and the preborn as well as ignored requirements to ensure that our environment is not also harmed. The pills’ dangers for the women who take them should be enough to pull them from the market. But as a matter of environmental justice, we should make sure that the deadly pills are not also ending aquatic and animal life.
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