The pain from Annie England Noblin's rheumatoid arthritis was so severe that she couldn't lift her hands above her head. Playing with her children hurt. Even writing — her job — was painful.
Her rheumatologist prescribed her twice-weekly doses of methotrexate, a drug
taken by more than 1 million US patients, and she started to feel better.
It wasn't the complete turnaround that many
chronic-pain patients wish for, but it helped Noblin, who lives in Missouri.
But last month, when
the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade, some patients in states like Missouri with abortion restrictions started losing access to medication.
While methotrexate is predominantly used to treat autoimmune diseases such
as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and IBD, at very high doses, it can be
used to cause abortions.
It is often
used to end ectopic pregnancies, a pregnancy that forms in the Fallopian tubes that isn't viable but can be fatal to the mother.
In states that ban abortion, some patients are struggling to access their medications if it can be used to end a pregnancy. Autoimmune-disease patients are among those becoming collateral damage in the war on abortion.
Noblin, 40, discovered that when she visited her local Walgreens pharmacy to pick her regular prescription.
She was left waiting for over six hours at her pharmacy in rural Missouri, where abortion is now banned. Eventually, a pharmacist told her that "because of the overturning of Roe v Wade, we are now required to get more information from your doctor," Noblin said.
She asked what kind of information was needed, finding it hard to fathom what could hold up a repeat prescription.
She was told the pharmacy needed to confirm that the methotrexate would be used for the "intended purposes" and wasn't being used to induce an abortion.
Hours later, she said, she was eventually given her medication.
"I was really, really angry," Noblin told Insider. "It was humiliating to be standing in front of a pharmacist begging for my medication."
"We've seen the pharmacist, and I know it's not her fault," Noblin said. "She's compelled to follow the policy, but to be told, essentially, 'We don't trust you to make the appropriate decisions for your health' is horrible."
She said it made her feel like she was doing "something illegal simply for taking medication to keep me alive."
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