By: By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN and DANIEL PAYNE
Texas Alliance for Life — one of the groups that pushed for S.B. 4 and the state’s near-total abortion ban — acknowledged the problem but pointed to language in the law that stipulates it’s only a crime if drugs are dispensed “with the intent to cause the death of an unborn child.”
“It’s unfortunate that some patients are not receiving the medications their doctors prescribed because pharmacists can’t navigate and interpret these laws,” said Amy O’Donnell, a spokesperson with Texas Alliance for Life. “Their overreaction in these scenarios may point to the need for the state board of pharmacy to offer further guidance and clarification, because it’s very clear in the law that medications for purposes other than abortion are allowed.”
Texas and 10 other states, however, specifically list methotrexate as an abortion-inducing drug, according to the American Pharmacists Association. And vague laws in other states — many of which were drafted long before many of the drugs in question were even developed — can have the same effect for pharmacists concerned about any medication that could be used for abortion.