Republicans Are Pushing 'Catch Kits' For Miscarriages & Abortion
11.12.24
Click to skip ahead: Legislation Watch warns about a bill in Wisconsin that would force women to bag up their miscarriage and abortion remains. In Dirty Donald, a few words on the Epstein emails. Ballot Box has a top anti-abortion org’s $80 million plans for 2026. Republicans’ Backdoor Ban has the toll of Republicans’ “Big, Beautiful Bill.” In the States, news from Ohio and Michigan. In the Courts, GOP disinfo in Arizona.
Legislation Watch: ‘Catch Kits’
Wisconsin Republicans are proposing a bill that would mandate women use ‘catch kits’ when they have a miscarriage or abortion—forcing them to bag up their pregnancy tissue and bring it to the doctor as medical waste.
Not a joke. Sen. André Jacque, Rep. Lindee Brill, and Rep. Nate Gustafson are shopping this so-called “clean water” bill around for co-sponsors right now.
The mandate would apply to anyone who uses an “abortion-inducing drug,” whether they’re ending an unwanted pregnancy or completing a miscarriage. Republicans are framing the legislation as an environmental protection—claiming the bill will ensure that “harmful endocrine disruptors and pathological waste does not contaminate our lakes, streams, rivers, and wetlands.”
If you’re a regular reader, you know exactly what this is about: anti-abortion groups have spent years pushing the lie that abortion pills (and abortion remains) are poisoning the groundwater. They’ve even tailored the lie to appeal to the RFK Jr./MAHA crowd, insisting the pills are getting into our drinking water and making Americans sterile.
If you need a refresher on all of this, read our explainer below:
Obviously, this has never been about the environment. The Wisconsin bill—and similar federal legislation—makes that painfully clear: the “catch kit” requirement doesn’t apply if the medication is used to remove a “dead fetus,” only when there’s still a heartbeat.
Is the medication somehow less “poisonous” then?
Of course not. This is about punishment: conservatives hate that abortion pills let women end their pregnancies in the privacy of their own homes without having to go through a gauntlet of protesters calling them sluts and murderers. Legislation like this is just about putting us back in our place.
After all, Wisconsin Sen. Kelda Roys tells Abortion, Every Day that Republican lawmakers “have spent years withholding funds for and blocking lead pipe remediation, PFAS cleanup, and other clean water programs.” If they cared about public health, they’d start there.
“Instead, these anti-choice, anti-woman extremists continue their crusade to further criminalize abortion services, this time by lying and fearmongering about medication abortion.”
Something else to watch: Wisconsin Republicans claim they want to stop abortion pills from getting into the water because they’re an “endocrine disrupter”—a “chemical that interferes with the hormones of a human body.”
That happens to be the same language that the Heritage Foundation just used to push for a federal review of birth control. It’s not hard to connect the dots: once Republicans codify that abortion pills harm the environment because they’re “endocrine disrupters,” contraception is the next target.
Dirty Donald
We know this is on everyone’s mind, so let’s get into it: House Democrats just released old emails from the late, convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. In those emails, Epstein recounts now-President Trump spending hours at his home with one of his victims. Epstein also says Trump “knew about the girls,” describes the president as the “dog that hasn’t barked”—a nod to his silence on the issue—and wrote, “i know how dirty donald is.”
We all know “how dirty donald is”: He is a court-recognized sexual assailant who has been accused of sexual misconduct by two dozen women.
Trump is also reportedly personally lobbying House GOP members like Lauren Boebert to stop supporting the release of the Epstein Files—and Republicans are listening to him.
Are we really surprised that Republicans don’t care about child rape victims? Across the country, their abortion bans are forcing young victims to travel out-of-state for abortion care—or to give birth. And the Trump administration’s top mouthpieces, like RFK Jr., openly fear-monger about children’s fertility while Republicans work to slash funding for teen pregnancy prevention and other programs that keep children safe.
It’s devastating, really: our president, a known sexual assailant, appears linked to the most notorious child sex trafficker in modern history. But in a nation indifferent to violence against women and girls—a nation where our bodies increasingly aren’t our own—this doesn’t seem to matter.
Ballot Box
You hear this every election cycle, and it never stops being true: next year could be one of the most consequential for reproductive rights in recent history. Anti-abortion groups certainly know that’s the case: Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America just announced it will pour $80 million into electing anti-abortion candidates in at least four battleground states: Iowa, Georgia, Michigan, and North Carolina.
For context: the group spent $92 million in 2024—a presidential year—and $78 million in 2022. They’re matching those numbers again because they understand exactly what they’re up against.
And let’s be clear about why they’re doing this: their abortion bans are wildly unpopular. They know the only way they can win elections is by flooding the zone with money and misinformation—because voters aren’t on their side.
After all, over 80% of voters oppose government interference in pregnancy. And in every battleground state SBA is targeting, voters decisively support abortion rights: 64% of voters in Iowa, nearly two-thirds of voters in Georgia, and 75% of voters in Michigan. And in North Carolina, twice the number of voters oppose the state’s 12-week ban compared with those who support it.
That’s why SBA president Marjorie Dannenfelser says that the group is going to focus on their “pro-life base.”
“Our mission is to fire up pro-life Americans who do not consistently vote in midterms and convince persuadable voters to reject the Democrats’ extreme all-trimester abortion agenda.”
Something Democrats should remember as Dannenfelser and other anti-abortion leaders try to frame the debate: voters actually support abortion for any reason, and—increasingly—throughout pregnancy:
We just have to talk openly about the issue. And, most importantly, we need to stop letting Republican messaging on abortion dominate the headlines and airwaves.
Republicans’ Backdoor Ban
A new report from Planned Parenthood shows the immediate and devastating impact of the GOP’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ on reproductive health: 50 Planned Parenthood clinics have closed so far this year. Since July 4, when Trump signed the budget law defunding the organization, 20 clinics have closed.
Planned Parenthood is now challenging the law in court, arguing that it violates their First Amendment rights; a federal judge is hearing arguments today.
As we’ve reported before, the budget bill’s “defund” provision has always been a backdoor abortion ban—clinics are shuttering even in states where abortion is legal. And rural communities that rely on their local clinic as their sole health care provider have been left with nowhere to turn.
Still, Planned Parenthood has continued to step up: in September 2025 alone, its health centers provided more than 100,000 visits for Medicaid patients, covering an estimated $45 million in care at no cost to those who rely on the program.
But the organization simply doesn’t have the resources to continue to foot the bill. From Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill-Johnson:
“Despite herculean efforts by Planned Parenthood health centers to keep care affordable, as well as public commitments by several states to help stabilize services, patients’ access to health care will worsen considerably over time due to the Trump administration’s actions.”
Some state governments have stepped in to help: California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington have allocated state funds to compensate for lost federal Medicaid reimbursements. But that’s covered only around $200 million of the $700 million Planned Parenthood spends annually to provide for Medicaid patients.
In other words: something has got to give.
In the States
Ohio Republicans just don’t quit. Voters passed a pro-choice ballot measure in 2023, but conservative lawmakers have been pushing to keep restrictions regardless. Just yesterday, AED told you about legislation that could end up being a de facto ban on telehealth abortion medication.
Now, Republicans have introduced SB 309—a bill requiring doctors who prescribe abortion pills to read a legally mandated warning telling patients they can sue their provider if they experience complications. The script reads:
“The state of Ohio wants you to be aware that you and your family may hold the manufacturer, distributor, your health care provider and the health care facilities financially accountable.”
Because it can’t be said enough: Medication abortion is incredibly safe and effective, and complications are rare. (So rare, in fact, that Republicans are passing laws to fabricate data saying otherwise!)
This isn’t about patient safety—it’s about stigma, intimidating doctors out of prescribing abortion pills, and scaring patients away from getting them. And as OBGYN Dr. Tracy Griffith tells the Ohio Capital Journal, “I think it could be really damaging to the physician-patient relationship…It feels like it’s designed to produce mistrust.”
Meanwhile, Republicans in Michigan have also been pushing restrictions in spite of constitutional protections for abortion. Their latest move ramps up the reproductive police state: the House Health Policy Committee heard testimony today on a bill that would require abortion providers to report an enormous amount of patient information to the state—from a patient’s age and marital status to their entire pregnancy history.
Providers would even be required to identify why patients are having an abortion—whether it’s because of rape, health issues, fetal abnormalities, economic reasons, or because the patient’s “family size is complete.”
These are private and personal questions—and the bill is an entirely unnecessary demand that singles out abortion from all other health services. (Have you ever heard of the state collecting data on appendectomy patients?) And at a time when pregnancy-related criminalization is sharply on the rise, the idea of state governments accessing our pregnancy histories is especially chilling.
Even Michigan Republicans didn’t seem totally on board: Rep. Mark Tisdel asked why, for example, knowing a patient’s marital status would be relevant to abortion safety. “I don’t want to be creating policy simply because we don’t like something,” he said.
We know why anti-abortion groups in the state are lobbying so hard for the bill: it’s not just to make life harder for providers and clinics, but to scare patients. Here’s Dr. Katherine Starr, the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of Michigan:
“Being asked to disclose where they live, their age, their marital status, and why they are seeking care, knowing that this information will be shared with the state, could further deter people from seeking care and insert more fear into what may already be a very difficult situation.”
Remember, we’ve seen moves like this in multiple other states: Ohio Republicans want to create a publicly-available dashboard of patients’ abortion date, for example, and Indiana Republicans are fighting to make patients’ abortion reports public records just like birth and death certificates.
Thankfully, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to veto the bill should it reach her desk. Still, it’s concerning that bills like this keep popping up in legislatures across the country.
In the Courts
Let’s turn to Arizona, where OBGYNs are suing for the repeal of a number of abortion restrictions now that the state’s Constitution explicitly protects abortion rights. (The restrictions include a waiting period, ban on telemedicine access to abortion pills, and ban on abortions that are supposedly motivated by fetal anomalies.)
Maricopa County Superior Court heard arguments in the case last week—and on Friday, Republican officials defending the law consulted anti-abortion, junk science ‘experts’ to justify their restrictions.
One of the witnesses was a doctor who testified in favor of mandating providers repeat misinformation about abortion; notably, this doctor has never provided an abortion. Other ‘experts’ included a psychiatric nurse who has openly admitted to being paid tens of thousands to testify in favor of abortion restrictions, and a disgruntled, virulently anti-abortion former Planned Parenthood Arizona employee who calls abortion ‘evil.’
I couldn’t roll my eyes back any further.
This, of course, builds on anti-abortion leaders’ broader strategy of justifying their attacks on abortion by elevating pseudoscience. Look no further than the Charlotte Lozier Institute, or the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC)—both of which regularly pump out junk science ‘studies’ on abortion that Republicans then use to pass new restrictions.
How about if we make men's medical information public, such as when they ordered Viagra, why, how long their boner lasted before and after taking it, how many women they have had sex with while on the medication, etc. I think that is really important information, especially because of, you know...the groundwater.
Just when you think it can’t get worse, Republicans are always able to make up more stupid and cruel crap. I think we should all mail all our bathroom trash to these lawmakers in Wisconsin - tampons, pads, empty toilet paper rolls, dirty diapers, wipes, etc. We could also start bagging up and mailing them all our kitchen waste because we don’t want that in the water either! Chicken bones, eggs, sour milk, empty pet food cans, rotten produce - all the good stuff - delivered to all Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature now to give them a hint of what’s to come and how totally insane this is.