Indiana Attempts to Restrict Access to Medication Abortion, Spreads Misinformation to Intimidate Patients and Providers
INDIANAPOLIS, IN — This week, 13 states, including Indiana, sent a letter calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to restrict access to medication abortion across the country. Their request falsely claims mifepristone is a threat to the water supply. In reality, mifepristone is a safe and effective way to end pregnancy, and there is no evidence that it threatens environmental safety. These efforts rely on misinformation rather than evidence, fostering an environment that intimidates patients seeking care and clinicians committed to providing safe, legal, and evidence-based health care.
The Indiana Reproductive Health & Access Coalition (RHAC) called out Attorney General Todd Rokita for recklessly misusing the EPA’s regulatory process to spread unfounded fears about mifepristone.
Haley Bougher, Indiana State Director, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates:
“This politically-motivated effort to restrict abortion access under the guise of water quality is flat-out fearmongering and reinforces the same brand of junk science anti-abortion politicians have been using for years. Attorney General Rokita and his anti-abortion cohort are politicizing unfounded environmental concerns to restrict access to medication that is safe, FDA-approved and has been used for more than two decades by millions of Americans. Dressing up anti-abortion sentiment as public health doesn't make it real science; it just makes the fear more marketable.
“It’s political acts like this that have caused a very real public health crisis that forces constituents to leave their home states to access necessary reproductive health care. If these Attorneys General truly cared about Americans, they would stop restricting access to reproductive health care, period. The people of Indiana — and all the other impacted states — deserve honest, evidence-based governance. This isn’t it.”
Danielle Drake, Advocacy Manager, ACLU of Indiana:
“The Attorney General is once again using the power of his office to spread fear and go after evidence-based health care. No one in Indiana should have to worry that politicians are looking over their shoulder when they make personal decisions about their health. Mifepristone is safe, effective, and FDA-approved. Trying to restrict it through baseless environmental claims is not about public health. It is about intimidation, control, and inserting the government into decisions that belong to people and their doctors.”
Mifepristone has helped ensure patients are able to make their own private medical decisions and has expanded access to evidence-based abortion and miscarriage care, access that remains under dire threat in this country.
This letter is just the latest attempt by anti-abortion extremists to pursue their ultimate goal of banning abortion in every form. This ploy to reverse-engineer a restriction on medication abortion by weaponizing environmental law is not only wrong — it’s dangerous.
###
About the Indiana Reproductive Health and Access Coalition (IRHAC): IRHAC is a statewide coalition of community organizers, advocates, health care providers, legal experts, and storytellers united to defend reproductive freedom and promote equitable access to health care for all Hoosiers.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD ALLIANCE ADVOCATES – INDIANA
Indiana Reproductive Freedom PAC
MADVoters
American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana
The Indiana Section of the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists
Good Trouble Coalition
Indiana Task FORCE
Hoosier Jews for Choice
Women4Change Indiana
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 12, 2026
CONTACT: Nicole Erwin, Strategic Communications Manager, Nicole.Erwin@ppallianceadvocates.org
