Major pro-life group threatens to sue Trump FDA over abortion pill's alleged environmental risks
A leading pro-life organization has formally threatened to sue the Food and Drug Administration, accusing the agency of failing to conduct required environmental testing of the abortion drug mifepristone despite potential risks to the waterways and wildlife.
Students for Life of America (SFLA), an anti-abortion advocacy group, filed a notice of intent to sue the FDA on Thursday, hours before Dr. Heidi Overton is scheduled to appear before the Senate for her confirmation hearing to lead the agency.
The notice says that after the FDA approved mifepristone in 2000, it never consulted two wildlife protection agencies about the drug's possible harmful effects on federally protected species, which the group argues violated the Endangered Species Act.
"We expect these environmental concerns to be taken seriously. I know Dr. Overton is aware of these concerns. Or we expect to see the Trump FDA in court. That's where this will end," SFLA President Kristan Hawkins told Fox News Digital in an interview on Wednesday.
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Hawkins said the FDA now has 60 days to respond to SFLA's notice before a lawsuit is filed. Prior to the notice, the group had filed 11 citizen petitions to the agency urging action.
In response to one of those petitions on Jan. 15, 2025 — five days before President Donald Trump began his second term — the FDA rejected SFLA's legal argument, saying it was not required to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service before approving mifepristone.
The SFLA notice cites six studies, four of which did not examine whether mifepristone was present in environmental water samples, to argue the drug may pose environmental risks warranting further federal review.
Among the studies cited is a recent paper published in Issues in Law & Medicine, which reported anti-progesterone activity in water samples from three U.S. cities.
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Because mifepristone blocks progesterone receptors — preventing the hormone needed to sustain a pregnancy from doing its job — SFLA argues the findings show the drug has made it into the U.S. water supply.
"Where do all the babies go in chemical abortions?" Hawkins said. "If we're talking 600,000 to 700,000 abortions a year being induced with chemical abortion pills, where are they happening? She doesn't go to a facility to complete the abortion. The abortion often takes weeks at home. She is told to go and sit on a toilet to flush."
The study, however, did not directly detect mifepristone in the water. Instead, it looked for signs of substances that block progesterone, and the researchers said another compound could have produced the same result.
Directly confirming the presence of mifepristone would generally require an analytical chemistry technique capable of identifying the substance itself.
Hawkins told Fox News Digital that the legal notice against the FDA is not reliant on one study but rather "rests on the failure of the FDA in 2000 to literally follow the law."
"This should be something that unites all Americans, regardless of how you feel about the violence of abortion. I certainly am pro-life, I wanna see abortion ended. But we all want clean drinking water," she said.
Hawkins said that message has resonated even with students who disagree with her organization's stance on abortion. SFLA has a strong presence on college campuses, with 1,575 active student groups across nearly half of America's traditional four-year universities.
With new leadership at the FDA on the horizon, Hawkins said her organization is reminding the agency of its responsibilities.
"Today, Dr. Heidi Overton will be at the U.S. Senate," Hawkins said. "And we want to be very clear that when she gets to her desk, when she gets confirmed, and she sits down, the first thing she sees on her desk is our notice to intent to sue."
"It is high time to hold the abortion industry accountable and to hold our government accountable for upholding our own laws that have been enacted to protect all of us as well as the animals within our country," she added.