参议院民主党人周四要求环境保护署署长李·泽尔丁就该署一项检测饮用水中堕胎药米非司酮的研究给出答复。该提议由华盛顿州参议员帕蒂·默里（民主党）领导，全体参议院民主党党团签署了一封致泽尔丁的信，敦促他将米非司酮、米索前列醇及其代谢产物从正在监测的新兴污染物名单中剔除。“此举与环保署过去的做法截然不同，旨在进一步推动本届政府对生殖健康护理的攻击，并转移人们对该署在保护美国人免受供水系统中已知化学污染物侵害方面关键作用的注意力，”民主党人在信中写道。
Senate Democrats demanded answers Thursday from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin about an agency study to detect the abortion pill mifepristone in drinking water. Led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the entire Senate Democratic caucus signed a letter to Zeldin calling on him to remove mifepristone, misoprostol and their metabolites from the list of emerging contaminants targeted for surveillance. “This action is a stark departure from past EPA practice and serves to further this administration’s attacks on reproductive health care and distracts from your agency’s critical role protecting Americans from known chemical pollutants in our water systems,” the Democrats wrote.
“这种激进、反科学的运动竟然可能在环保署获得听众，这令人深感忧虑。”自罗伊诉韦德案被推翻以来，药物流产已成为最常见的堕胎方式，限制堕胎药的可及性——女性通常在怀孕前10周在家服用这些药——已成为反堕胎运动的主要焦点。多年来，反堕胎活动人士、州总检察长和立法者一直在游说该署开展检测饮用水中米非司酮和米索前列醇痕迹的工作。
“It is deeply alarming that this kind of radical, anti-science campaign might have an audience at the EPA.”Medication has become the most common method of abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and limiting the availability of the pills — which women usually take at home in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy — has become a major focus of the antiabortion movement. Looking for traces of abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol in drinking water is something anti-abortion activists, attorneys general and lawmakers have been lobbying the agency to do for years.
此次检测行动并非该署对《安全饮用水法》污染物名单的常规更新的一部分，也不属于任何其他既定的未受监管污染物监测名单，因此不需要任何法规。目前没有证据表明堕胎药正在危害供水或对人体有害。但科学家预计，该研究结果将被用作更广泛运动的一部分，以推动将米非司酮从市场上撤下。
The testing campaign is not part of the agency’s routine update to the Safe Drinking Water Act’s contaminant list, or any other established unregulated contaminant monitoring lists, so there is no regulation required. There is no evidence that abortion pills are harming the water supply or are harmful to people. But scientists expect the study results will be used as part of the broader campaign to get mifepristone pulled from the market.
参议员们敦促泽尔丁就审查提供具体细节，包括审查的“法定、法规和科学依据”、预期时间表，以及环保署工作人员与外部组织——特别是“美国学生生命组织”——就米非司酮的潜在监控或监管举行的所有会议名单。
The senators pressed Zeldin for specifics about the review, including the “statutory, regulatory, and scientific basis” for it, expected timeline, and a list of all meetings between EPA staff and outside organizations—especially Students for Life of America— to discuss the potential surveillance or regulation of mifepristone.