OPINION: Labrador tilts absurdly against the mifepristone windmill

Once Idaho's attorney general embarks on an ill-fated crusade, he won’t stop until it reaches the stage of absurdity. That describes his quest to ban mifepristone, a drug proven safe as a means for early termination of a pregnancy. Labrador has launched two unsuccessful, out-of-state legal actions to ban or restrict use of the medication. Now, he makes the bizarre claim that it is contaminating our water.

Labrador first tried to horn in on the appeal of a Texas judge’s ruling that placed substantial restrictions on mifepristone, including a ban on prescribing it by telemedicine and dispensing it by mail. When that 2023 ruling was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS), Labrador teamed up with the attorneys general of Missouri and Kansas. The three filed a motion in January 2024 to join the appeal. The three states had not participated in the trial and were likely just grandstanding for attention.

The Trump Justice Department opposed their motion, asserting the three attorneys general had filed too late, had filed in the wrong court and did not have standing — that is, the right to sue. Those rookie mistakes had to be embarrassing. SCOTUS denied Labrador’s motion and later dismissed the underlying appeal.

The three Don Quixotes refused to take “no” for an answer. In October 2024, Labrador and two other AGs asked the Texas judge for permission to file a 199-page complaint challenging imagined dangers posed by mifepristone. Neither the Trump lawyers nor the judge agreed with that, so the case was sent to Missouri where it is still awaiting action.

Having been unable to produce any evidence that mifepristone poses any danger to its users, Labrador has taken a strange new tack. He and 13 other GOP attorneys general are now making the absurd claim that the medication is a “growing threat to the country’s waterways.” They want the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the drug as a water contaminant. Apparently, Labrador has noticed that the EPA has nothing else to do in the Trump years and might as well be doing something to keep those idle hands busy.

There is absolutely no scientific evidence to support Labrador’s claim. In fact, the pill has been proven safe for those who actually ingest it. How could it possibly pose a risk to the general population when some traces of it may go down a toilet to be diluted by millions of gallons of wastewater going into a sewage treatment plant?

If Labrador is truly interested in protecting our water and air from dangerous contaminants, he could work toward reducing the use of fossil fuels in America. An estimated 350,000 premature deaths are attributed to fossil fuel pollution on an annual basis. Rather than being concerned, Labrador is a devoted supporter of fossil fuels. He sued in 2024 to prevent stricter regulation of fossil fuel plants. He strongly opposes stricter mileage and emission standards for fossil fuel powered vehicles.

Labrador’s selection of windmills against which to tilt is stupefying. There is absolutely no basis for his ginned-up threats he has made against mifepristone. On the other hand, he strongly supports actual threats that endanger the life and health of many Americans. It all boils down to political posturing. There are more votes from his supporters for tilting with fake threats than dealing with real dangers.

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Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served 8 years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He also publishes at substack.com/@jjcommontater.