"In a June 18 letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, 25 House Republicans asked the agency to study the alleged "byproducts" of Mifepristone (the first medication administered in a medication abortion regimen) in water systems. In the letter, the Republican legislators make an unfounded assertion that "residual amounts of the drug and its metabolites" in wastewater "could potentially interfere with a person's fertility, regardless of sex.""
"If this preposterous claim weren't unsettling enough, former EPA officials told The New York Times that the EPA had already developed "general technology ... [that] could be used for surveillance in states where abortion is illegal." The surveillance technology could be used to isolate the source to "a particular street or home where the pills were used, though such measures would be legally fraught and extremely costly.""
Twenty-five House Republicans asked the EPA to study alleged byproducts of mifepristone in water systems and asserted that residual amounts and metabolites in wastewater could potentially interfere with a person's fertility. Former EPA officials indicated existing EPA technology could be repurposed for surveillance in states where abortion is illegal and might isolate sources to a street or home, though such efforts would be legally fraught and costly. The request raises questions about scientific evidence for contamination claims, potential misuse of government funds for politically driven inquiries, and broader threats to privacy amid expanding surveillance tools like license plate readers and social media data sharing.
Read at Truthout
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