This annoys me
I've been on the NARAL mailing list since I was about 19. NARAL is a national lobbying organization committed to keep abortion legal. For obvious reasons, being on NARAL's mailing list puts me on a lot of OTHER mailing lists.
So I get this advertisement from Planned Parenthood today, encouraging me to join, and claiming that a trend is occurring in local pharmacies and nationwide pharmaceutical chains where individual employees are being allowed to deny women birth control. Their employers, as well as state law, sanctions individual employees' right to refuse to fill such prescription based on the personal beliefs of the employee. The add claims that the prescriptions which are being refused are for ordinary, monthly birth control. Phrases used include "the same prescription she'd been filling month after month," "the pill," and "take one pill per day as directed." They are clearly referring to the sort of birth control pill that is taken to PREVENT pregnancy as well as to treat other female problems. So the idea of a pharmacy employee refusing to fill this prescription based on the employee's "personal beliefs" is appropriately ridiculous, preposterous, and outrageous.
Unfortunately, however, my long-time affiliation with NARAL has exposed me to the lies, omissions and exaggerations that pro-choice groups can sometimes commit.
I suspected that what was taking place was that pharmacy employees were refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception, the morning-after pill, which (from what I understand) prevents a fertilized egg from becoming embedded on the lining of the uterus, thus being considered by some pro-lifers as an abortive procedure.
It appears I was correct.
http://www.buyblue.org/node/4399
This link matches up with the Planned Parenthood claim that Target endorses this policy. PPFA, which stands for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is cited at the end of this article.
http://news.lp.findlaw.com/andrews/h/hea/20060922/20060922_menges.html
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/12/21/robertson_group_sues_over_contraception_dispensing_law/
Walgreens is another company which is accused of this policy by PPFA. However, these articles discuss employees suing Walgreens because they were FIRED after refusing to fill an EC prescription in Illinois, where state law prevents pharmacists from turning such prescriptions away. Walgreens says they had "no choice" but to fire the employees, implying that Walgreens company policy may differ in states without the mandate.
I have no idea whether this one is true or not, but he claims that the issue never even came to fruition, but that he was dismissed for refusing to sign a document related to the issue: http://www.pfli.org/mengestestimony0206.html
It appears that the issue gets even MORE complex:
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2515
because now we're talking about EC being filled over-the-counter, without a prescription, and, apparently, to minors without parental consent. The major moral difficulty I see here, abortion issues aside, is that ignorant patients and children might be more likely to overuse EC and do medical damage to themselves. And what does the pharmacist say to the crackwhore seemingly unstable woman who is demanding EC for the third time?
So, here's what I think:
1) Shame on Planned Parenthood for misrepresenting the issue.
2) Private pharmacies and pharmacies on a corporate level have the option to decide not to carry these medications (for instance, Walmart). I don't agree with them, but the apocalypse hasn't come yet. I don't agree with pro-life fundies, but I agree with their right to refuse to participate in something to which they feel morally opposed.
3) While I respect peoples' right to have their opinions, their opinions are STUPID and ill-informed. Fertilized eggs fail to implant, or implant and then are rejected by the body, pretty regularly. It does not constitute the end of a human life. It's one thing to be uncomfortable with the idea of destroying a humunculoid fetus, but fighting for the rights of a fertilized egg is just ridiculous.
4) Emergency contraception causes a severe, unnatural, potentially damaging hormonal over-reaction to the female body. It is far, far too strong to be administered without a physician.
So I get this advertisement from Planned Parenthood today, encouraging me to join, and claiming that a trend is occurring in local pharmacies and nationwide pharmaceutical chains where individual employees are being allowed to deny women birth control. Their employers, as well as state law, sanctions individual employees' right to refuse to fill such prescription based on the personal beliefs of the employee. The add claims that the prescriptions which are being refused are for ordinary, monthly birth control. Phrases used include "the same prescription she'd been filling month after month," "the pill," and "take one pill per day as directed." They are clearly referring to the sort of birth control pill that is taken to PREVENT pregnancy as well as to treat other female problems. So the idea of a pharmacy employee refusing to fill this prescription based on the employee's "personal beliefs" is appropriately ridiculous, preposterous, and outrageous.
Unfortunately, however, my long-time affiliation with NARAL has exposed me to the lies, omissions and exaggerations that pro-choice groups can sometimes commit.
I suspected that what was taking place was that pharmacy employees were refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception, the morning-after pill, which (from what I understand) prevents a fertilized egg from becoming embedded on the lining of the uterus, thus being considered by some pro-lifers as an abortive procedure.
It appears I was correct.
http://www.buyblue.org/node/4399
This link matches up with the Planned Parenthood claim that Target endorses this policy. PPFA, which stands for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is cited at the end of this article.
http://news.lp.findlaw.com/andrews/h/hea/20060922/20060922_menges.html
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/12/21/robertson_group_sues_over_contraception_dispensing_law/
Walgreens is another company which is accused of this policy by PPFA. However, these articles discuss employees suing Walgreens because they were FIRED after refusing to fill an EC prescription in Illinois, where state law prevents pharmacists from turning such prescriptions away. Walgreens says they had "no choice" but to fire the employees, implying that Walgreens company policy may differ in states without the mandate.
I have no idea whether this one is true or not, but he claims that the issue never even came to fruition, but that he was dismissed for refusing to sign a document related to the issue: http://www.pfli.org/mengestestimony0206.html
It appears that the issue gets even MORE complex:
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2515
because now we're talking about EC being filled over-the-counter, without a prescription, and, apparently, to minors without parental consent. The major moral difficulty I see here, abortion issues aside, is that ignorant patients and children might be more likely to overuse EC and do medical damage to themselves. And what does the pharmacist say to the crackwhore seemingly unstable woman who is demanding EC for the third time?
So, here's what I think:
1) Shame on Planned Parenthood for misrepresenting the issue.
2) Private pharmacies and pharmacies on a corporate level have the option to decide not to carry these medications (for instance, Walmart). I don't agree with them, but the apocalypse hasn't come yet. I don't agree with pro-life fundies, but I agree with their right to refuse to participate in something to which they feel morally opposed.
3) While I respect peoples' right to have their opinions, their opinions are STUPID and ill-informed. Fertilized eggs fail to implant, or implant and then are rejected by the body, pretty regularly. It does not constitute the end of a human life. It's one thing to be uncomfortable with the idea of destroying a humunculoid fetus, but fighting for the rights of a fertilized egg is just ridiculous.
4) Emergency contraception causes a severe, unnatural, potentially damaging hormonal over-reaction to the female body. It is far, far too strong to be administered without a physician.