Action: a dishonest bill.

HB 159 – Protecting Water from Chemical Abortion Waste  passed the Labor, Health & Social Services committee on 1/24 and will now be considered by the full House.

HB 159 is about stopping medication abortion, not about water quality. It’s a bill generated by the national group Students for Life. It’s not a Wyoming bill developed to solve Wyoming problems.

Prior to first being approved by FDA, an environmental assessment was done on mifepristone and the finding was that there would be no significant impact on the environment, including water quality., from mifepristone use. Water quality damage is a made-up concern, with the real goal being to stop medication abortion.

WHAT WILL THIS BILL DO?

1. Require the doctor physically examine the woman and schedule a follow-up visit
2. Require the doctor to provide a “catch kit” and “medical waste bag” to the patient (the medical waste bag must have BIOHAZARD written on it and be flourescent orange or orange-red)
3. Potentially subject the doctor to criminal penalties up to 3 years imprisonment and $10,000 in fines.
4. Prohibit the entry of any abortion drugs into wastewater or public water supply or the waters of the State.
5. If any endocrine-disrupting chemicals from abortion drugs are found in any wastewater, public water supply or waters of the state, the manufacturers of the drugs will be liable for cleaning up the waste.
6. Require the WDEQ to monitor the water for these endocrine-disrupting chemicals;

TALKING POINTS

1. This is not an honest bill — there is no evidence that abortion drugs create water pollution.
2. No basis exists for requiring an in-person appointment if water quality is the concern or to require a follow-up within 7 days. The bags could easily be sent, along with the pills. These requirements indicate the goal is merely to make medication abortion more difficult, not to protect water quality.
3. The bill is simply not feasible. People use these drugs (particularly mifepristone and misoprostol) for a variety of purposes, including miscarriage care, ulcers, Cushing’s disease. Those uses do not fall under the requirements of the bill, which means an excretion need not be gathered. However, those patients will excrete the drugs.in feces and urine just like any other user would. There is no way to distinguish drugs used for approved purposes from so-to-speak unapproved purposes in a water sample.
4. The usual processes of miscarriage and menstruation have always resulted in blood in the water system and in the case of miscarriage, potentially small fetal remains. Up to 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriages (many unknown) so the numbers of miscarriages are quite high. The amount of blood and any products of conception in the water system from medication abortion is truly negligible, both in reality and in comparison to existing menstruation and miscarriage excretions.
5. The WDEQ is not set up to regulate medical waste or test for endocrine-disrupters. This is a burden on the WDEQ and will cost time and money for no environmental benefit.
6. This bill reflects governmental overreach not founded on any science or on an identified need. If they were really interested in water quality, they might consider regulating any number of other proven endocrine disrupters such as those in fracking chemicals.

Remember, most Wyomingites support reproductive freedom and oppose governmental intrusion into personal medical decisions. These bills do NOT make Wyomingites and their families more safe, healthier or more free.