A new bill is aiming to regulate the abortion drug mifepristone, citing concerns over the drug’s environmental impact endangering the health of the American public.

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) introduced the Clean Water for All Life Act on Wednesday, legislation which would require an in-person doctor’s office visit for the abortion drug to be prescribed, a physician to be present for the abortion, and the provision of a “catch kit” to prevent contaminated blood and aborted tissue from entering American waterways. Under the terms of the bill, abortionists who prescribe or dispense the abortion drug remotely, are not present at the time of the abortion, or fail to provide a “catch kit” would face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $50,000.

In a “Washington Watch” interview Wednesday evening, Miller asserted that her legislation will “ensure that these reckless practices stop, [because] these reckless practices harm women. It’s degrading human dignity and contaminating our environment.” She described the environmental impact of the abortion drug as a “crisis for the environment and for — just human health,” sharing that water treatment facilities have found the remains of aborted unborn babies in the water. “These do-it-yourself, at-home, chemical abortion pills are allowing women to expel the baby into the toilet, and it’s going into our wastewater,” she said. “So my bill is going to put an end to this reckless practice that harms women, degrades human dignity, and contaminates our environment. It’s so bad.”

The congresswoman touted her bill’s provision barring abortionists from remotely prescribing and dispensing the abortion drug. “I think the biggest thing is that we cannot allow the chemical abortion pills to be mailed out willy-nilly. That’s what’s been happening,” she said, noting that even on college campuses, the abortion drug must be prescribed and dispensed in-person. She warned that the ease of access to the abortion drug remotely is a threat to the health of women and to countless unborn children. “Thirteen-year-olds can get them, and if they have a cell phone, they can access the ability to order them and to get them and never have a physical exam,” she reported. “That’s another problem. …These girls and women may not even know how far along they are. And it’s one in 10 girls and women [who] take these pills have to get some kind of medical care afterward, either [they] end up in the emergency room or some kind of medical attention.”

According to a report from Students for Life of America (SFLA), more than 50 tons of abortion-related waste is dumped into American waterways annually due to the abortion drug, a metric that SFLA described as a “conservative estimate.” The report cited numbers from Planned Parenthood recording 642,700 abortions committed via the abortion drug over the course of 2024. Estimating that the placenta and fetal remains weigh roughly 2.5 ounces, SFLA concluded that “1,606,750 ounces of fetal remains were flushed into our drinking water” over the course of one year, accounting for more than 50 tons of abortion-related waste, including the body parts of unborn children. The estimate, SFLA cautioned, is relatively conservative. Based on the pro-life organization’s own statistics, the real amount of abortion-related waste being flushed into America’s waterways is likely closer to 65 tons annually.

“Neglecting abortion water pollution to protect the Democrats’ favorite donors, Planned Parenthood & Chemical Abortion Pill pushers, represents a national crisis,” said SFLA founder Kristan Hawkins in a statement. “In light of the more than 50 tons of human remains and tissue dumped in our waterways each year, we are calling on the Trump Administration to do the work that’s never been done: Test the Water, Go back to the Drawing Board, and Enforce the Comstock Act to stop the at-home dumping of human remains into our waterways nationwide.” She added, “We’re allowing cemeteries in our sewers, a tragedy and a public health crisis all in one.”

In a press conference before Miller introduced her bill, Tom McClusky, director of Government Affairs at CatholicVote, faulted Democrats and their abortion extremism for the health crisis. “You can’t build on your land because of a snail darter, but they had no problem pushing this abortive pill onto women with no studies about how it affects the environment, how it could affect the drinking water,” he quipped. “You think it was bad what recently happened here in the Potomac? Now multiply that across the United States.”

Miller also laid much of the blame for the crisis at the feet of her Democratic colleagues, calling the promotion of the abortion drug “more egregious action by the Democrats.” She noted, “It was under Joe Biden that the FDA dismantled basic safety standards. They eliminated or they removed in-person requirements to take the abortion pill.” Under Biden, the Food and Drug Administration removed the few remaining safeguards surrounding the prescription, dispensing, and consuming of the abortion drug, allowing mifepristone to be prescribed remotely and shipped across the U.S., even into states with pro-life laws barring the use of the deadly drug.