--- title: Abortion Restrictions May Be Affecting Methotrexate Access description: Abortion restrictions may be making some prescription drugs that can be used to induce abortions, like methotrexate, harder to get. canonical: https://time.com/6194179/abortion-restrictions-methotrexate-cancer-arthritis/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-07-06T21:48:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:37:06.463Z article:section: Health og:title: Abortion Restrictions May Be Making Methotrexate Harder to Access og:description: Some people with arthritis have said they had trouble refilling prescriptions for the drug they need og:url: https://time.com/6194179/abortion-restrictions-methotrexate-cancer-arthritis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69b524d82badb34a/698a3376e6e84a55fc2af13b/methotrexate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2121 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: Prescription pill bottles og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Abortion Restrictions May Be Making Methotrexate Harder to Access twitter:description: Some people with arthritis have said they had trouble refilling prescriptions for the drug they need twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69b524d82badb34a/698a3376e6e84a55fc2af13b/methotrexate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Abortion Restrictions May Be Making It Harder for Patients to Get a Cancer and Arthritis Drug > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=de8d5c05-9859-4241-91d2-b4f2adbab4ef&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A History of How Abortion is Shown in Film and Television [Watch (HLS stream): A History of How Abortion is Shown in Film and Television](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Ca77dTts.m3u8) (8:41)  _Published 2022-07-05. TIME explores abortion and how it's covered across media; from films that tell cautionary tales and depict the procedure as life-upending to more compassionate pieces that portray the varied experiences of women._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 6, 2022 9:48 PM UTC TIME explores abortion and how it's covered across media; from films that tell cautionary tales and depict the procedure as life-upending to more compassionate pieces that portray the varied experiences of women.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 6, 2022 9:48 PM UTC Soon after she started taking the drug methotrexate in February, Jennifer Crow noticed a significant improvement in her inflammatory arthritis pain. Since then, she’s taken the drug weekly. So her stomach dropped on July 1, when she got an automated call from her pharmacy saying her methotrexate refill for the month hadn’t been approved. Crow, who is 48 and lives in Tennessee, was confused by the disruption, until she saw on social media that [other people](https://twitter.com/%5Ftrashville/status/1543030336266948608) were reporting [similar denials](https://twitter.com/BeccaLizz/status/1542684777693814784). Methotrexate—which in high doses is used as a chemotherapy drug—is sometimes prescribed to induce abortions, complicating its use in states that have restricted abortion access in the aftermath of [_Roe v. Wade_ being overturned](https://time.com/6193895/hope-after-roe-v-wade-overturned/). Crow eventually did get her medication after her doctor re-processed the refill request, but she says temporarily going without it caused her pain and fatigue to flare up—and made her nervous about the future. While neither Crow’s doctor nor her pharmacy explicitly said that methotrexate’s link to abortion affected her prescription, she feels the timing is suspicious. Her home state of Tennessee currently forbids most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and is set to implement [a near-total abortion ban next month](https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/news/2022/6/28/pr22-21.html). Crow hopes that, moving forward, pharmacies will have clearer policies about how to handle non-abortion-related methotrexate prescriptions. But if not, “we’re going to be test cases,” she says. “That still worries me.” [Methotrexate](https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682019.html) is an antimetabolite, a class of drug that suppresses certain cellular functions, which is often administered orally or by injection. It’s approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat some cancers, but it’s also commonly used for conditions including lupus, arthritis, and psoriasis. Doctors also use it to end ectopic pregnancies, in which a fertilized egg grows outside the uterus, resulting in an unviable pregnancy that carries the risk of life-threatening complications for the pregnant person. Methotrexate ends the pregnancy by preventing cells from dividing. While methotrexate is not one of the drugs typically used in an elective [medication abortion](https://time.com/6190341/how-abortion-pills-work/)—those drugs are [mifepristone and misoprostol](https://time.com/6181162/abortion-pill-access-roe-v-wade/)—it can be [used for that purpose](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10342080/). Pregnant people are advised not to take methotrexate because it may cause serious harm to the fetus. Some states, like [Texas](https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/872/billtext/html/SB00004F.HTM), have laws that specifically list methotrexate as an abortion-inducing drug, placing restrictions on its use. Texas’ law does note, however, that such drugs are prescribed for non-abortion-related reasons that are exempt from those regulations. Other states make similar distinctions. In Kentucky, a “trigger” law banned nearly all abortions in the state after _Roe v. Wade_ was overturned, though that [policy is now tied up in court](https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article263206058.html). But on July 1, the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy emailed pharmacists and pharmacy interns in the state to remind them that, under Kentucky state law, “if a pharmacist receives a prescription and it doesn’t say, ‘for the induction of abortion,’ they can assume that it’s not for abortion,” explains executive director Christopher Harlow. This means pharmacists may fill prescriptions for drugs like methotrexate normally, if there’s no indication that it’s meant for abortion. Harlow says the board has not received any reports of patients being denied prescriptions. But other organizations say they have. “We have heard of a handful of cases of patients being completely denied \[prescriptions\] simply because they’re of childbearing age,” says Steven Newmark, director of policy at the Global Healthy Living Foundation, a nonprofit that supports people with chronic illnesses. Other patients have been told they “need to go back to their doctor, or the pharmacist has to check with the doctor, or the doctor is being wary and more reluctant” to prescribe drugs like methotrexate, Newmark says. Michael Murphy, advisor for state government affairs at the American Pharmacists Association, says pharmacists may be reluctant to fill methotrexate prescriptions if they practice in states where providers can be held legally or financially liable for performing abortion services. Laws vary quite a bit from state to state, and many leave enough gray area that it’s not always obvious when or how someone could be liable. It’s also not clear how many patients have been denied methotrexate, though [a ](https://twitter.com/sadgorlzai/status/1544072032106823689)[number](https://twitter.com/sadgorlzai/status/1544072032106823689) of [people](https://twitter.com/acrowandthedead/status/1541602157492948994) have [shared their experiences](https://twitter.com/Vinminen/status/1540437651198824448) on social media. Several health groups—including the [Lupus Foundation of America](https://twitter.com/LupusOrg/status/1543329679507161088), [Arthritis Foundation](https://twitter.com/ArthritisFdn/status/1542864354290327559), and [American College of Rheumatology](https://twitter.com/ACRheum/status/1542513794160611334)—recently posted statements about reported access issues and told patients to contact them if they ran into problems. Murphy says reports of patients being denied methotrexate are anecdotal, so it’s hard to get a handle on how common they are. But, he says, “any reports of patients not being able to receive their medications and maintain that continuity of their care is very concerning for us as pharmacists.” Newmark says he hopes states will pledge to preserve access to these medications, hopefully before it becomes a widespread issue. “If things don’t get remedied quickly,” he says, “it’s going to require more action.” ## Transcript Hey, I'm just a big show generations of filmmakers have to pick that the issue of abortion from stories about a legal procedures to perfectly legal and uneventful abortions and even the abortion pill. So following the Supreme Court decision to strike down row. How will a new reality in America begin to make its way onto screens pressure. Goes? Abortion in Phil is not new. Perhaps the earliest example, is the 1916 movie, where are my children in this film? Based on the trial of Planned Parenthood? Founder Margaret Sanger a lawyer Prosecuting, an illegal provider, finds out that his own wife has had multiple abortions, which is rendered her infertile the movie simultaneously. Argues a racist and eugenic point that birth control is important for someone. But that wealthy women who choose abortion or selfish early films, often told cautionary tales depicting. The procedure is traumatic and life up ending, but over the years storylines and movies have begun to evolve to become more compassionate and certainly more accurately display, the varied experiences of women and the realities of abortion. Let me local, okay. My experience with abortions on film is like in European films that scarred me for life, you know, just, you know, like the the did truly the backroom abortion scene work together on the film. Saint Francis, the movie follows a nanny and juxtaposes her taking care of a child during the day while just making the decision to terminate her own pregnancy. A lot of what I had an abortion when I was in my early thirties and all of the TV and install might seem that had to picked it up, orschlens made it seem really scary. And when I went through the actual process I felt relieved. I found the process to be while complicated actually pretty simple. And so I really wanted to show, you know, quote-unquote normal abortion isn't surrounded by traumatic events and that doesn't involve a lot of hand-wringing and doubt and regret but a woman knowing immediately or person know immediately but it wasn't the right time. Today, I found some clothes with fresh blood on them and I just was second, try to hurt herself or her mind. no, I had an abortion, a couple of months ago and I've been bleeding off and on ever since then that's too much. I feel like in must he be in thong. We've seen the woman really spend a lot of time questioning her decision and I'm sure that happens to many women in real life, but it has been a pretty monolithic exploration of doubt in terms of abortion as so. I wanted to show the other version which is I'm pregnant. I'm not going to have this baby because I don't think that either the lack of doubt, the lack of regret. Shonda Rhimes has just been like a complete game-changer for how we portray abortion on network television. Start making decisions about and talking about why it was important to her to be abortion provider and actually the first and then the second show to actually show the full of working procedure on screen and had intentions of managed abortion and see her absolute commitment to this type of Storytelling has I think really open doors for a lot of other writers and content creators who want to include that on network TV. Should be here. I should not be here. Walk down the street in and open the door and Waltz right in and say hello. My name is Veronica, my boyfriend is an asshole. Here's my $500. Elf, I already been on that journey of trying to normalize my own abortion and then this this book came to me and it felt like a perfect way to take the next step and really get to share my perspective, my heart, Rachel Lee Goldberg is the director of unpregnant her film details. The Adventures of a 17 year, old pregnant teen and ex-best friend as they travel from Missouri to New Mexico, to get an abortion idea of of this, not having to be a sad thing and it can just be something with the Central and something that happens is, is really, is, is important, is a perspective, it's real, it's a comedy, but the comedy in the, in the film largely comes from making fun of the journey. And that's, you know, that's how I feel very confident in saying that it's bullshit that these people have to travel this far, to get a procedure. A medical procedure unpregnant was made in 2020, but following the Supreme Court's decision in 2020 to abortions in Missouri are now permitted. Alien cases of medical emergency, there are no exceptions for rape or incest under the law. Abortion is still legal in New Mexico, which is readying to become a destination for women. Seeking care depictions of a board come a long way since the infancy of Hollywood and the institution of the Hays code in 1930, the Hays code was the system of self-censorship for filmed, requiring movies to be wholesome and more. If the character had an abortion in the movie, The Hays code required that they'd meet an unhappy ending, usually characters died, or abandon or ultimately chose not to have an abortion. The Hays code officially ended in 1968. Paving the way for more diverse coverage of abortion. Dirty Dancing continues to be one of my favorite abortion stories, that that is an American film. I just love it because I love it. That the whole plot of the movie is only propelled by tiniest friends, desire to help her, some help support her get an abortion, right? To help pay for the abortion. Help. Cover her day off of work and to help her see that abortion turns out to be dangerous and ends really support or network is really the driving force for the whole film. Is the battle to secure Reproductive Rights ramps up, and individual states. The role that films and TV can play in the battle for public opinion, may be more essential than ever to what comes next. I think, demystifying the process. I didn't know before I went and got a medication abortion, that that was even possible. I assumed it was going to be Surgical and so I think they're probably still a lot of people out there who don't know exactly what an abortion might entail for them. And we wanted to show the process of putting the pills in your cheek and let him know to dissolve and then you might get sick and and the recovery process so that people can feel seen before and the people who might want to see the horses in the future, don't feel scared of speaking for myself. I'm already on to my next for some project deep deep in abortion project number to right now. So you know I'm hoping that other people will be compelled to do the same you know, as as artists and filmmakers are people in Media. More and more specific stories, which I think is the trend that were seeing already. But I hope this lights of fire and, you know, maybe those storytellers who have stories to tell their sugar burning inside. You're compelled to tell them now, we're already seeing it, but I'm I'm, I'm excited for that next stage of of stories to be told. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6194179/abortion-restrictions-methotrexate-cancer-arthritis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6194179/abortion-restrictions-methotrexate-cancer-arthritis/"},"headline":"Abortion Restrictions May Be Making It Harder for Patients to Get a Cancer and Arthritis Drug","datePublished":"2022-07-06T21:48:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:37:06.463Z","description":"Some people with arthritis have said they had trouble refilling prescriptions for the drug they need","url":"https://time.com/6194179/abortion-restrictions-methotrexate-cancer-arthritis/","keywords":["abortion","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69b524d82badb34a/698a3376e6e84a55fc2af13b/methotrexate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69b524d82badb34a/698a3376e6e84a55fc2af13b/methotrexate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Prescription pill bottles","caption":"Prescription pill bottles","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/abortion/","name":"abortion"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6194179/abortion-restrictions-methotrexate-cancer-arthritis/","name":"Abortion Restrictions May Be Making It Harder for Patients to Get a Cancer and Arthritis Drug"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A History of How Abortion is Shown in Film and Television","description":"TIME explores abortion and how it's covered across media; from films that tell cautionary tales and depict the procedure as life-upending to more compassionate pieces that portray the varied experiences of women.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Ca77dTts/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2022-07-05T15:12:18.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Ca77dTts.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6194179/abortion-restrictions-methotrexate-cancer-arthritis/","duration":"PT8M41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6194179/abortion-restrictions-methotrexate-cancer-arthritis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```