Chemical abortion pills are now the most common method of abortion in the United States. But what happens after those pills are taken at home, and could what gets flushed away eventually make its way into the water you drink?
That’s one of the questions Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy for Students for Life Action and Students for Life of America, wants the federal government to answer.
In this episode of The Family Policy Alliance Report, Hamrick joins Grace Youngson to discuss what the rise of chemical abortion means for women, families and potentially all Americans. From abortion pills arriving through the mail to questions about mifepristone in our water supply, the conversation reveals why the abortion debate after Roe is entering territory many Americans may not even know exists.
What Is Chemical Abortion, and What Are the Risks?
If you still picture abortion primarily as a procedure performed inside a clinic, the landscape has changed.
Chemical abortion typically involves two drugs: mifepristone, which blocks the hormone progesterone that sustains a pregnancy, followed by misoprostol, which induces contractions. Hamrick says this method is now used in the majority of abortions nationwide and is increasingly distributed by mail.
That shift raises questions about women’s health and safety. Hamrick points to medical information that may not be confirmed when abortion pills are shipped, including how far along a pregnancy is, whether it is ectopic or whether a woman has Rh-negative blood. She explains why those factors can matter before the drugs are taken.
Family Policy Alliance has previously reported on research examining complications associated with the abortion pill and efforts to restore federal safeguards around its use.
Is Mifepristone Entering Our Water Supply?
The questions don’t end with the woman taking the pills.
Hamrick explains that biological material from procedures performed in medical settings is handled as medical waste. With chemical abortions performed at home, that material can instead be flushed into the wastewater system.
Students for Life recently tested water samples in three major U.S. cities and detected the presence of mifepristone. Now the organization is calling on the EPA to conduct nationwide testing to determine whether the abortion drug is entering America’s water supply and at what levels.
Students for Life has published its environmental water study detailing the testing and findings.
Mifepristone blocks progesterone, a hormone important to pregnancy. Hamrick asks whether environmental exposure to a progesterone blocker could play any role in the fertility problems facing American couples and believes the possibility warrants further study. With an estimated one in six couples experiencing infertility, she is calling on the EPA to investigate.
You don’t have to agree on abortion policy to want to know what’s in the water your family drinks.
Abortion Pills by Mail Raise Questions About Coercion and Consent
There is another consequence of moving abortion from the clinic to the mailbox: Who is actually obtaining the pills?
Hamrick discusses efforts in Louisiana following a case in which a woman’s husband allegedly obtained abortion pills and gave them to her without her knowledge. She argues that when abortion pills can be ordered and shipped through the mail, safeguards need to account for the possibility that the person ordering them isn’t the woman who will ultimately take them.
Hamrick also describes abortion pills being mailed across state lines, including into states that have enacted protections for unborn children. That means the post-Roe fight isn’t simply about what your state’s law says. Abortion by mail can create challenges to enforcing those protections.
What Can You Do After Roe?
Hamrick isn’t simply raising questions. She and Students for Life are asking government leaders to act. They want the EPA to test for mifepristone in America’s water supply, and Hamrick is calling for stronger federal enforcement of existing restrictions involving abortion drugs sent through the mail.
She also encourages pro-life Americans to participate in the conversation themselves. You don’t have to be a policy expert or content creator, she says. Sharing information, supporting pregnancy care organizations and speaking up for mothers and their unborn children are all ways to get involved.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade didn’t end America’s abortion debate. Chemical abortion and abortion pills by mail are changing where and how those battles are being fought.
Through Family Policy Alliance’s After Roe campaign, we’re working to protect the unborn, support mothers in crisis and advance policies that cherish human life.
To learn more about Kristi Hamrick’s work, visit Students for Life of America or Students for Life Action.
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