14-year-old denied ‘lifesaving’ medication due to Arizona abortion law, doctor says

A 14-year-old girl in Arizona was denied the low dose of the “lifesaving” medication she takes to treat the debilitating symptoms of her arthritis, according to her doctor.

The denial comes after a judge recently reinstated a near-total abortion ban stemming from an 1864 law in Arizona’s first year as a U.S. territory, according to the New Republic.

The medication, methotrexate, slows down the most severe symptoms of the teen’s juvenile idiopathic arthritis, which can cause critical complications in children that could damage joints and hinder growth, Newsweek reported.

In higher doses, MTX can be used to end ectopic pregnancies, the outlet reported. Ectopic pregnancies occur when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, where the egg cannot survive and can cause serious complications such as life-threatening blood loss, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The teen’s doctor wrote on Twitter on Sept. 26 that the pharmacist did not communicate with her about her patient’s need for the medication, fearing that it would be used to cause an abortion because of the girl’s age and gender.

“Welcome to AZ. Today a pharmacist denied the MTX refill for my adolescent patient,” Dr. Deborah Jane Power wrote. She explained that her patient is on a low dose of 5 milligrams to treat the more debilitating symptoms of the patient’s condition, and without it her condition would likely flare up. “MTX denied purely because she’s a female, barely a teenager. Livid!”

Power said she reported the denial to the state pharmacy board, and her patient was able to get the medication the next day. But now she’s worried about her patient’s ability to get the medication on an ongoing basis, even though she’s been taking it for years.

“This child’s care has taken a lot of work to get her to a place her pain is totally manageable, she can attend school in person,” Power told KOLD. The patient’s condition had kept her in and out of the hospital, but this year she was able to go to high school for the first time, the outlet reported.

“She’s not in a wheelchair, she has a social life and friends for the first time and a life all young people should have,” the girl’s mom told KOLD. She says they waited an agonizing 24 hours between being denied and getting the prescription refill approved, the outlet reported.

“I was scared, I was really scared,” she told KOLD. “I’m like if they deny this then we’ll have to find a different medication and we don’t know if it’s going to work.”

Walgreens did not respond to Power’s claim that the pharmacist did not contact her to discuss her prescription for the medication.

The company sent a statement to McClatchy News that said its focus is on meeting its patients’ needs “in compliance with applicable pharmacy laws and regulations,” and noted that states with trigger laws in effect make it harder to dispense “certain prescriptions.” That applies to “all pharmacies, including Walgreens,” the statement said.

In those states, Walgreens said pharmacists “work closely with prescribers as needed, to fill lawful, clinically appropriate prescriptions,” the statement said. “We provide ongoing training and information to help our pharmacists understand the latest requirements in their area, and with these supports, the expectation is they are empowered to fill these prescriptions.”

The American College of Rheumatology released guidelines for policymakers on methotrexate access, warning that there’s a “lack of clarity” about whether patients will be able to access their medication “if prescribers and pharmacists interpret the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson to include limiting access to potentially abortogenic medications.”

The guidance explained that the medication is “one of the most widely used and inexpensive medications” for many types of “inflammatory rheumatic diseases,” including juvenile arthritis.

“It improves disease activity, prevents organ damage, reduces disability, and can extend lifespan for those with these diseases,” the guidance states. “In significantly higher doses than prescribed for persons with rheumatic diseases it can be used to medically terminate ectopic pregnancies.”

The guidance stressed that methotrexate remains the standard of care “for a variety of autoimmune diseases” and “must remain accessible to people with rheumatic diseases.”