The abortion industry refuses to acknowledge the real facts about Methotrexate

A search of the Internet provides some interesting information on the legitimate uses of methotrexate, as well as a description of the warnings on side effects. It appears that abortion clinics in the USA have adopted the use of methotrexate, claiming that it is a safe form of abortion. However, that is not the case. One doctor has reported that out of 178 abortions using methotrexate, 75 women required a second dose of misopristone, and several required an abortion via the suction method. In other words, there was no more than an 86 per cent "success" rate, and that is not good enough at all. To be honest, these women would have suffered less if they had an abortion using the suction method alone. This same doctor stated in his report:

"No important side effects or complications were noted."

However, there is something missing in this statement within the report. The doctor has failed to note the side effects that were present. This is a reporting failure and it represents the giving of misinformation regarding the off-label use of Methotrexate. However, that is not the only problem. Since Methotrexate operates to suppress the immune system, and it can cause liver damage, this doctor's claim that there were no important complications needs to be challenged. What has happened to the women who participated in that trial in 1995? How many of those women now have an auto-immune disorder? Were there any alcoholics in the study? Did the administration of Methotrexate to healthy women cause damage to the liver? There are a lot of questions that need to be addressed by the medical community regarding this dangerous use of methotrexate.

Warning on the use of Methotrexate in place of Mifepristone

To date the Australian pharmaceutical companies have refused to import Mifepristone, the major ingredient of RU-486. However, the abortion mills in Sydney have taken matters in their own hands and it turns out that one clinic has started to give women who want an abortion Methotrexate in place of Mifepristone. When the MSM released this news, as part of a push to get a pharmaceutical company to supply the Mifepristone, the reporters stated that the Methotrexate affects the folate, which then brings on an abortion. This is a gross misrepresentation of the properties of Methotrexate, and any woman who is considering an abortion, especially a chemical abortion, has the right to be informed about the long term effects of taking a poison such as Methotrexate.


What is Methotrexate? What are the approved uses of Methotrexate? Methotrexate was introduced as an anti-cancer drug. The on-label uses for Methotrexate are the following:

• severe psoriasis (a skin disease in which red, scaly patches form on some areas of the body) that cannot be controlled by other treatments.
• severe, active rheumatoid arthritis (a condition in which the body attacks its own joints, causing pain, swelling, and loss of function) that cannot be controlled by certain other medications.
• certain cancers that begin in the tissues that form around a fertilized egg in the uterus (womb)
• breast cancer
• certain cancers of the head and neck
• lung cancer
• certain types of lymphomas
• leukemia
• Crohn's Disease and Ankylosing Spondylitis
  

(see www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a682019.html)

PRESCRIBED FOR: Methotrexate is used for cancer treatment generally in higher doses than for other uses, and is often administered intravenously or intramuscularly. Methotrexate is used to treat psoriasis, an inflammatory skin disease, as well as the arthritis that occurs in 10 percent of these patients (psoriatic arthritis). It is also used to treat active rheumatoid arthritis in adults and children. It is also used to treat other rheumatic diseases, including polymyositis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Methotrexate has been used to induce miscarriage in patients with ectopic pregnancy.

DOSING: May be taken with or without food. For rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, the dose of methotrexate is given WEEKLY, whether by injection or orally. For psoriasis, the weekly dose is often divided into three doses given at 12 hour intervals each week. This has been shown to be more effective, as it relates to the natural growth cycling of the skin.

DRUG INTERACTIONS: Because methotrexate can cause serious liver disease, patients with alcoholism or liver disease should not receive it. Patients should curtail alcohol consumption while taking methotrexate. Methotrexate can suppress the body's immunity. Therefore, any symptoms of infection should be reported to the doctor. Patients with underlying immune deficiency diseases should not receive methotrexate. A dry, non-productive cough can be a result of a rare lung toxicity. Methotrexate can impair fertility, decrease sperm count and cause menstrual dysfunction. Safety and effectiveness has not been established in children.

PREGNANCY: Methotrexate should not be used in pregnancy, as it can be toxic to the embryo and can cause fetal defects and spontaneous abortion (miscarriage). It should be discontinued prior to conception if used in either partner. Male patients should stop taking methotrexate at least 3 months prior to a planned conception and females should discontinue use for at least one ovulatory cycle before conception.

(see www.medicinenet.com/methotrexate/article.htm)

SIDE EFFECTS:

Possible side effects can include anemia, neutropenia, increased risk of bruising, nausea and vomiting, dermatitis and diarrhea. A small percentage of patients develop hepatitis, and there is an increased risk of pulmonary fibrosis.

The higher doses of methotrexate often used in cancer chemotherapy can cause toxic effects to the rapidly-dividing cells of bone marrow and gastrointestinal mucosa. The resulting myelosuppression and mucositis are often prevented (termed methotrexate "rescue") by using folinic acid supplements (not to be confused with folic acid).

Methotrexate is a highly teratogenic drug and categorized in Pregnancy Category X by the FDA. Women must not take the drug during pregnancy, if there is a risk of becoming pregnant, or if they are breastfeeding. Men who are trying to get their partner pregnant must also not take the drug. To engage in any of these activities (after discontinuing the drug), women must wait until the end of a full ovulation cycle and men must wait three months.

There is a risk of a severe adverse reaction if penicillin is prescribed alongside methotrexate.

Methotrexate competitively and reversibly inhibits dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), an enzyme that is part of the folate synthesis metabolic pathway. The affinity of methotrexate for DHFR is about one thousand-fold that of folate for DHFR. Dihydrofolate reductase catalyses the conversion of dihydrofolate to the active tetrahydrofolate. Folic acid is needed for the de novo synthesis of the nucleoside thymidine, required for DNA synthesis. Methotrexate, therefore, inhibits the synthesis of DNA, RNA, thymidylates, and proteins.

Methotrexate acts specifically during DNA and RNA synthesis, and thus it is cytotoxic during the S-phase of the cell cycle. Logically, it therefore has a greater toxic effect on rapidly dividing cells (such as malignant and myeloid cells, and GI & oral mucosa), which replicate their DNA more frequently, and thus inhibits the growth and proliferation of these non-cancerous cells as well causing side effects listed above.

Lower doses of methotrexate have been shown to be very effective for the management of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. In these cases inhibition of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) is not thought to be the main mechanism, rather the inhibition of enzymes involved in purine metabolism, leading to accumulation of adenosine, or the inhibition of T cell activation and suppression of intercellular adhesion molecule expression by T cells.

(see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methotrexate)

When a healthy woman consumes a drug such as Methotrexate there is a risk that the immune system will be damaged by the consumption of this drug. Playing with a woman's immune system by using this drug can have as yet unknown long term effects. Women who choose to take Methotrexate for the purpose of abortion are not being informed about all of the possible side effects of taking an anti-cancer and anti-RA drug for an off label use. This is a drug that is used as part of a chemotherapy regimen and is extremely toxic.

Promising news on stem cell research and time to stop listening to the rhetoric

Once again we have more proof that the embryonic stem cell research industry has been holding governments to moral ransom by demanding funding for research that has so far produced failure. However, on another front there has been some very promising news regarding the stem cells that are available through amniotic fluid.

With this kind of advance, perhaps it is time that we should spend more checking out the rhetoric that we are being fed by a publicity machine that is keen to put forward only one point of view. There is no better example of how the publicity machine works than the way in which the doctors pushing for the introduction of Mifepristone are pushing their case. Here in Australia one clinic has resorted to the use of Methotrexate, a drug that is used for cancer and arthritis patients in order to bring on a chemical abortion. Women are being informed that this is a safe alternative for their bodies, and they are not being told about the properties of Methotrexate.