New bill would require women to collect medical waste in a 'catch kit' after using abortion pills

WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- A new bill introduced in the state Legislature would require women to collect their abortion waste.

Rep. Lindee Brill says she believes abortion waste is contaminating our water, but her opponents say there’s not enough data to support that claim.

“We, as women, are taking chemicals to end pregnancy in our own homes and putting it then into our public water system,” said Brill.

It's called the “Clean Water for All Act.” Co-sponsored by Brill, the act would require doctors to provide women a “catch kit,” or a waste bag that would allow them to collect blood and tissue after using abortion pills. The waste would then be returned to a doctor’s office.

“They would be required to dispose of that hazardous material, those chemicals that are then entering our water system,” said Brill.

Brill says she hopes through the bill, abortion pill manufacturers, who would be responsible for providing ways to dispose of the waste under the new bill, will only allow the pills to be used at a doctor’s office.

“If it were up to me, we wouldn’t even have abortion pills in Wisconsin, but with that being said, under our current environment and what our current law is, the manufacturer can now say a woman should be taking the misoprostol in a medical facility so that she can be monitored and so that hazardous material can be disposed properly,” said Brill. “We know there’s also women silently suffering and dealing with this on their own."

It’s a bill that’s received strong criticism from Democrats.

“I strongly oppose this bill because I believe politicians should not have a role in deciding what you do with your health and your life and your body,” said State Sen. Kelda Roys.

Brill cites a study from the New York Academy of Sciences which argues that endocrine disruptors, or chemicals that interfere with human hormones, are contaminating the water.

The U.S Food and Drug Administration has rejected that argument, stating there is no evidence that single use abortion pills contaminate the water.

We reached out to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to see how abortion waste impacts the state’s water quality but did not hear back.

State Senator LaTonya Johnson, who served on the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District Commission from 2017-2021, agreed, arguing this is another method to restrict access to abortion.

“This is not something that has risen to the level of crisis or risen to the level of being on someone’s radar,” said Johnson. “And this was never an issue of concern. I’ve never heard of it.”