# The EPA picks abortion pills over smokestacks > In the same week, the EPA killed power plant climate rules and launched a study hunting abortion drugs in tap water. - Title: The EPA picks abortion pills over smokestacks · Mother Jones - Summary: In the same week, the EPA killed power plant climate rules and launched a study hunting abortion drugs in tap water. The EPA is retreating from regulating… - Keywords: epa, abortion, climate, regulation, water quality, picks, pills, smokestacks, Mother Jones - Source: Mother Jones — https://motherjones.com/politics/2026/09/the-epa-would-rather-monitor-water-for-abortion-pills-than-pollution - Author: Rachel Santarsiero - Published: 2026-09-15T15:26:44+00:00 - Read time: 1 min - Topics: epa, abortion, climate, regulation, water quality ## Two announcements, one week Days apart, the EPA scrapped climate pollution limits for fossil fuel power plants and launched a study testing drinking water for abortion medication. ## Zeldin in oil country EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told G20 energy ministers in Houston he was ending carbon standards for coal and gas plants, framing 15 years of rules as a war on coal. > The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on. ## What the rollback costs Power plants are the second-largest source of US carbon pollution. The Biden rules would have cut 1.38 billion metric tons by 2047, plus smog, mercury and lead. ## A year of dismantling February brought the repeal of vehicle climate standards and the 2009 endangerment finding, the ruling that said greenhouse gases threaten human health. ## The water study's real audience The EPA will screen for abortion pills, contraception, gender-affirming care hormones and 1,000 other chemicals. Students for Life had lobbied for it for years. > The Pro-Life Generation is finally being heard! ## Scientists call it a distraction Mifepristone is a one-time dose taken by a small slice of the population, unlike most pharmaceuticals. Researchers say the real water threats are elsewhere. > There are legitimate water quality threats that we need to attack and rectify in a regulatory manner. And then there are things that are out in left field. ## Detection is the point The EPA says the study only checks whether a chemical is present, not how much. A former EPA water scientist warns any trace will become a talking point. > If there is any detectable level of mifepristone or its metabolites, the anti-abortion groups will scream that we are unknowingly aborting fetuses by drinking public tap water. ## Why the movement pivoted Abortions have risen since Dobbs, largely through mifepristone and misoprostol. Blocked at the clinic, opponents are opening an environmental front. ## Lawyers are already moving Environmental groups are preparing legal challenges to the climate rollback, calling it a license for the fossil fuel industry to keep polluting. > This is full-throated climate denial while the climate crisis happens in real time and a shocking betrayal of the American public. ## Key takeaway The EPA is retreating from regulating real pollutants while lending federal credibility to an anti-abortion theory about drinking water.