Sen. Marco Rubio is questioning President Biden's EPA over a lack of environmental studies on the effect of the abortion pill on waterways. (Getty Images)
The lawmakers stressed the importance of this development in light of the rising number of medication-induced abortions, for which mifepristone is commonly administered. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 63% of all U.S. abortions last year were conducted by medication. This marked a 10% rise in the method relative to the share of all abortions since 2020.
BIDEN WHITE HOUSE REJECTS ICC SANCTIONS PROPOSED BY LAWMAKERS AFTER ISRAEL WARRANT REQUESTS
Rubio and Brecheen alleged that the only survey of the effect mifepristone has on the environment was an assessment from 1996. They claimed the survey, which was relied on by the Food and Drug Administration when it approved the medication in 2000, "failed to consider that human fetal remains and the drug’s active metabolites would be making their way into wastewater systems across the U.S."
"The American people deserve to know the negative effects caused by chemical abortion drugs," they wrote.
'TOO LATE': TRUMP BACKS CHALLENGER TO FREEDOM CAUCUS CHAIR DESPITE RECEIVING PRIOR ENDORSEMENT
Mifepristone is one of two drugs used to facilitate medication abortions. (Getty Images)
"Once received, EPA will review this letter and will respond appropriately," the agency told Fox News Digital.
Mifepristone has encountered significant controversy as Republicans scrutinize the medication and what they say are lax regulations for it, while Democrats hail the drug as safe, effective and even necessary health care, while abortion access continues to be limited across the country.
BALANCE OF POWER: FILIBUSTER FATE COULD COME DOWN TO 2024 SENATE ELECTIONS
Abortion rights groups have insisted medications like mifepristone are crucial health care. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Abortion rights groups have likened various concerns over the drug and its implementation to attempts to exercise control over women's bodily autonomy.
"Study after study has shown medication abortion and mifepristone to be safe and effective — with or without a health center visit. Those findings have only grown clearer in the more than two decades mifepristone has been on the U.S. market," Planned Parenthood Federation of America President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement earlier this year.
Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.
Follow Julia's reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to Julia.Johnson@fox.com.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-admin-questioned-over-abortion-pill-push-without-proper-environmental-study