AFP

When Alabama nurse Melissa went to pick up her regular prescription for rheumatoid arthritis last week, she was told the drug was “on hold” while the pharmacist checked she wasn’t going to use it to induce an abortion.

“He said, ‘Well I have to verify if you’re on any contraceptives to prevent pregnancy.’ The hell you do,” she recalled thinking.

Melissa — who is in her early forties and asked to be identified only by her first name for fear that speaking out might affect her livelihood — then called her doctor, who succeeded in having the pharmacy in the southern US state release the medicine.

“I picked it up a couple hours later, but I felt violated,” she told AFP, explaining she had had a hysterectomy six years ago, and that her lack of recent contraceptive history may have led the pharmacist to suspect she was pregnant.

Stories of people facing similar struggles have come to light in the weeks since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24, highlighting an overlooked consequence of new state-level bans or severe restrictions on abortion. 

It’s not yet clear how widespread the cases are, but national organizations including the Lupus Foundation of America and the American College of Rheumatology said they were aware of such concerns and asking people affected to come forward.

“The Arthritis Foundation supports unencumbered access to and coverage of FDA-approved drugs for managing arthritis in alignment with scientific and clinical guidelines, as well as evidence-based medical recommendations,” the organization said.

The issue centers on methotrexate, a drug which tempers inflammation and is commonly used against autoimmune conditions including inflammatory arthritis, psoriasis and lupus. 

Methotrexate stops cell division and is given in higher doses as a cancer drug. 

It can also sometimes be used in medical abortions, though not as frequently as the Food and Drug Administration-approved combination of two other drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol.

Nevertheless, many states have passed laws carrying threats of legal action against health care workers and pharmacies providing methotrexate.

– ‘It’s terrifying’  –

Another woman contacted by AFP, a 20-year-old university student from Ohio, said she has had a methotrexate prescription since 2020 to treat her lupus, which affects her kidney and liver and causes joint pain.

A pharmacist at a national chain told her they were “no longer accepting prescriptions for methotrexate unless it was for the FDA-approved use of (treating) breast cancer, or the patient was not presumably fertile,” she said.

She tried again, without success, to fill her prescription at a family-owned pharmacy, and this week got a letter from her doctor’s office stating the practice would no longer be prescribing methotrexate because of the number of patients having difficulty accessing it.

Though the first pharmacy later changed its position, the experience left her “annoyed and angry,” she said.

A third woman, 48-year-old Jennifer Crow, a writer and produce gardener in Tellico Plains, Tennessee, told AFP she received an automated call from CVS saying her methotrexate refill had been declined “pending provider approval.”

Crow said Methotrexate had helped her enormously in managing her inflammatory arthritis, allowing her to roll out of bed and get dressed without severe pain, and walk without a cane for the first time in years.

Though her doctor was able to resolve the situation, Crow, who has also had a hysterectomy, said she was worried for other chronic illness patients who didn’t have the same access to resources that she does.

In statements to AFP, national pharmacy chains CVS and Walmart confirmed they were working to adhere to new state regulations in light of the high court’s decision to revoke the constitutional right to an abortion.

CVS added: “We encourage providers to include their diagnosis on the prescriptions they write to help ensure patients have quick and easy access to medications.”

Alisa Vidulich, policy director of the Arthritis Foundation, told AFP she was hopeful the situation might be remedied quickly as medical professionals and pharmacies developed new guidelines.

“But that may not actually be the case in all states and it may in fact turn into a longer term issue,” she acknowledged.

Melissa, the nurse, said she was incensed at the double standard that allowed one of her best friends, who is a man, to get his methotrexate prescription filled right away with no questions asked.

“We’re headed in the wrong direction and it’s terrifying. I have two daughters. I don’t want to see this,” she said.

Long relegated to an obscure corner of the collectibles market, VHS tapes have been fetching eye-popping prices at auctions in recent months, thanks to nostalgia and an appetite for new investment opportunities.

At a sale by Heritage Auctions in June, a “Back to the Future” videocassette went for $75,000, while “The Goonies” and “Jaws” copies were sold for $50,000 and $32,500, respectively.

Videotape collectors have been around since the late 1970s, when the format was first introduced, but these days most “VHS tapes are worth next to nothing”, according to John, from Newmarket in Canada, who claims to have sold around 3,000 of them over span of more than 20 years.

“You’ll be lucky to get $5 each”, says this active eBay user, who declined to give his last name.

Until recently, only some movies that hadn’t been released online or on other medium, as well as little known horror movies, could command higher prices, sometimes above $1,000.

But this new trend is mostly focused on blockbuster titles, particularly from the early 80s. To be deemed valuable, a tape has to meet some specific criteria, with a premium put on first editions and sealed copies. A limited edition, such as a larger box version of “Star Wars”, would also draw interest.

The George Lucas sci-fi cult classic is widely considered a must-have and several copies have already been sold for over $10,000.

The Holy Trinity could be movies from the first slate ever released on the US market in 1977, namely “MASH”, “Patton” and “The Sound of Music”, by a financially troubled 20th Century Fox with Magnetic Video.

Jay Carlson, VHS Consignment director at Heritage Auctions, said these could reach “a six-digit number, maybe seven.”

– Nostalgia meets investment opportunity –

Many long-time collectors are wondering about the sudden surge, 16 years after the last release of a film in this format (“A History of Violence”). The last video recorders were manufactured in 2016.

“I think a lot of it is nostalgia and the compulsion to collect”, says Philip Baker, who runs the www.videocollector.co.uk website. “One of the special things about VHS over the other formats is it was the first accessible way to watch a movie in your own home.”

Host of the Completly Unnecessary Podcast, Pat Contri has a different take and draws a parallel between the current VHS trend and video games. He said both markets are flooded with “people who just decided to get into it. They said to themselves: ‘I have money, let’s invest in it.'”

Over the last decade, several of these cultural staples have become collectible asset classes, from sneakers to skateboards, thanks to a new generation of investors, many of whom grew up with them.

A whole industry is getting together, as shown by the growing number of dedicated Facebook groups, grading services assessing authenticity and condition, and auction houses willing to add VHS to their sales.

Contri is critical of the process, “where instead of letting a relatively new collecting hobby for the masses develop naturally, you sort of try to entice people with +FOMO+ fear”, as in fear of missing out on a lucrative investment.

“There’s people who are only open box guys, and they’re very skeptical of sealed guys and what it means to their own collecting”, Carlson said. “But I just think it’s a good thing. It’s just a difference in the way that you’re collecting.”

Carlson sees even more potential in VHS tapes than in video games, which recorded two sales for over a million dollar each last year.

“I know a lot of people who aren’t into video games and don’t play video games, but I don’t know very many people who who wouldn’t have a favorite movie.”

Twitter shares slid late Thursday after a Washington Post report that Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy the social media giant is in danger.

The world’s richest man has previously expressed misgivings and even implied he could walk away from the deal over concerns about what he believes are an abundance of fake accounts.

According to the Post, however, Musk has been unable to pin down the percentage of Twitter accounts that are not genuine, despite being given access to internal data.

While Musk has already made comments putting his commitment to the deal in doubt, the latest report cited an anonymous source saying his team is preparing for a “change in direction.”

Twitter shares, which were already trading lower than the price offered by Musk, sank about four percent on the news in after-market trades.

“The Twitter soap opera is clearly coming to some sort of finale over the coming months as Musk makes the decision to stay (with a lower price) or go,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.

“The Twitter deal has clearly caused chaos at Twitter.”

Ives expected Musk to reveal details of his fake account concerns in the coming weeks.

During the Qatar Economic Forum last month, Musk said that his Twitter purchase remained held up by “very significant” questions about the number of fake users on the social network.

“So we are still awaiting resolution on that matter and that is a very significant matter,” the Tesla car and SpaceX exploration chief said via a video link to the gathering.

Twitter executives have held firm that less than five percent of accounts are bogus, with Musk saying he believes the number to be much higher.

Musk said there were also questions about Twitter’s debt.

The chances of Musk buying Twitter as originally negotiated are slim, Ives said.

Wedbush set the chance of the deal happening at a lower price at 60 percent, leaving open the door to the possibility Musk will try to walk away with only paying a required $1 billion breakup fee.

US soccer icon Megan Rapinoe paid silent tribute Thursday to a fellow sports star — basketballer Brittney Griner, who is detained in Russia — during a White House awards ceremony. 

As she and several others received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest American civilian honor, Rapinoe wore a white pantsuit with the initials “BG” and a flower embroidered on the lapel.

Griner, who has been imprisoned in Russia since February, pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges earlier Thursday in a case that has further inflamed tensions between Moscow and Washington.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion, detained days before Russia sent troops to Ukraine, faces up to a decade behind bars for bringing vape cartridges with cannabis oil into the country, but insists she did not intend to break the law.

US President Joe Biden “is going to do everything he can to make sure she gets home safely,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to criticism from the basketball star’s family on the administration’s involvement.

In addition to Rapinoe, who helped lead the US women’s national soccer team to 2019 World Cup victory and advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, Biden also commemorated gymnastics champion Simone Biles for shining a light on mental health struggles.

Other award recipients included former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who is a survivor of gun violence, the nurse who was the first person in the United States to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, and posthumous awards for Apple founder Steve Jobs and Republican senator and war hero John McCain. 

“This is America,” Biden said of the esteemed group.

Also honored was Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, who could not attend the White House ceremony because he recently tested positive for Covid.