Anti-abortion groups have filed petitions and conservative legislators have introduced bills in state legislatures based on bogus and misleading information about mifepristone. They claim that mifepristone contaminates drinking water and harms wildlife, and are demanding the tracking of mifepristone and fetal tissue in water. They frame this as an environmental concern, but their focus on mifepristone is intended to create fear, and further stigmatize abortion and birth control as part of a pattern of targeting reproductive health care and limiting access to abortion medications.
*The purpose of this brief is to raise awareness about this trending anti-abortion strategy of weaponizing environmental concerns and the language to look out for in bills introduced in your state legislature. Additionally, messaging is provided in this brief that can be used to combat these bills.