Petition: re pharmacies not filling birth control

[nana]

www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/792375278

Tell pharmacy chains to stop discriminating against women!

Dear :

All over the country I have noticed a disturbing trend of pharmacies refusing to fill women's prescriptions for birth control. When a woman and her doctor decide that a prescription for contraception is in the woman's best interest, a third party has no right to override that decision. Pharmacies must ensure that patients get their doctor-prescribed medication without delay or inconvenience. I ask that your company assure me and your other customers that no woman seeking prescription contraception will be turned away by your company's pharmacies.

No doubt a majority of your customers take for granted that women should be able to receive their birth control despite the personal beliefs of the individual pharmacist. Timely access to contraception is central to women's health, autonomy, and equality. We must trust women and their doctors to make their own reproductive health decisions.

I thank you, in advance, for protecting your customer's health by ensuring your pharmacy will guarantee women have unhindered access to their prescribed medications.

Thank you for your attention and support.

Sincerely,

www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/792375278

[Moses]

Join NARAL Pro-Choice America in telling our nation's biggest pharmacies (Wal-Mart, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreen's, and Eckerd's) not to stand between a woman and her physician--

Huh? No problem that I know of w/ our CVS here-- have some CVS pharmacies refused to fill such prescriptions?

Do you think they are talking about the so-called "morning after" pill?

I would be happy to call and complain to CVS if they are refusing to fill these prescriptions.

[nana]

These stories have been reported for some time. A google search for "refusing to fill birth control prescriptions" found
about 57,400 hits including the following links to main stream news sources.

The first time I saw anything about this was about 2 months ago when a woman in Louisiana (if memory serves) went to get her refill of her birth control pills and was refused them by the pharmacist. The major problem being that the drug store she went to is the only one in town. The next closest pharmacy was something like 40 miles away.

Here's one involving a CVS pharmacy:
www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-11-08-druggists-pill_x.htm

abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=633992
www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/30/pharmacists_balk_at_filling_some_prescriptions_because_of_beliefs/
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5490-2005Mar27.html

There have been reports of both morning after pills AND the usual (prevent ovulation) birth control pills not being dispensed.

what's next? condoms? narcotic pain meds? HIV/AIDS meds?

[Moses]

Thanks! I'll see if I can get the phone number to their corporate HQ.

I did this once before when they failed to protect their employees from gunmen -- which I regard as being a poor member of the community. If corporatations are to be good community members, they should treat their employees well. If megaglobal types won't do this, I think we should pass laws -- if the Republicans are truly for Main Street.

[Moses]

April 3, 2005
EDITORIAL

Moralists at the Pharmacy

Scattered reports suggest that a growing number of pharmacists around the country are refusing to fill prescriptions for contraceptives or morning-after birth control pills because of moral or religious objections. Although the refusals are cast as important matters of conscience for self-described "pro-life" pharmacists, they have the pernicious effect of delaying, and sometimes even denying, a woman's access to medications that may be urgently needed. This is an intolerable abuse of power by pharmacists who have no business forcing their own moral or ethical views onto customers who may not share them. Any pharmacist who cannot dispense medicines lawfully prescribed by a doctor should find another line of work.

Incidents in which pharmacists have refused to dispense contraceptives or morning-after pills have been reported for well over a decade, but the number may be rising. By one count there were some 180 reports of refusals in a six-month period last year, some describing earlier incidents, and the number is likely to grow now that religious conservatives are flexing their muscles in many spheres of life.

An organization of antiabortion pharmacists is pushing for professional associations and state legislatures to adopt "conscience clauses" recognizing the pharmacist's right to refuse to dispense a drug or even refer the customer to a pharmacist who will; many pharmacy associations have already adopted such clauses. Several states have laws granting pharmacists the right to refuse, and legislators in at least 10 states are pushing similar legislation.

Meanwhile, legislators in other states are trying to force pharmacists to fill valid prescriptions, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, responding to a Chicago pharmacist's recent refusal to provide contraceptives to two women, issued a rule on Friday that pharmacies must fill contraceptive prescriptions without delay. The nationwide struggle was described in a Washington Post article last Monday.

The most responsible conscience clauses try to balance the rights of the pharmacist and the rights of the clients by insisting that steps be taken to ensure patient access to legally prescribed therapy, either through another pharmacist at the same store or through another pharmacy. That may seem at first blush like a reasonable compromise but it is a prescription for disaster in the real world.

To begin with, some pharmacists are so certain of their moral high ground that they berate, belittle or lecture their customers. They are not likely to be helpful in guiding patients to alternative supplies of medications that they deem evil. Worse yet, if this movement picks up steam, right-to-life groups in some areas may pressure one pharmacy after another to refuse service, leaving a diminished pool of pharmacies available to fill prescriptions for birth control purposes. It is disheartening that Wal-Mart, for some years now, has refused to stock the morning-after pill.

In rural areas there may not be another pharmacy nearby, so customers who are turned away may go without the medication or waste time finding another pharmacy. In the case of the morning-after pills, which work best in the first 12 to 24 hours after a sexual encounter, delay could render the treatment ineffective. Indeed, pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for morning-after pills are inadvertently strengthening the case for providing them as nonprescription medicines on the open shelves. Such availability would allow women to get the pills promptly without going first to a doctor and then to a potentially obstructionist pharmacist.

[Moses]

Tuesday, April 5, 2005

Moral judgments on birth control endangering women's lives

BONNIE ERBE
GUEST COLUMNIST

Here's an outrage for you. There's a growing movement among pharmacists and even doctors to refuse to provide legal and necessary health services.

Let's start with pharmacists. In at least 10 states, they have refused to fill prescriptions for birth control, citing moral and religious beliefs. In so doing, they have incited a nationwide outcry by women (and their men) who rely on such basic medical services.

According to Judy Waxman, vice president of the National Women's Law Center, "Unfortunately, what is happening is that pharmacists are deciding they do not want to fill the prescription for birth control, which means it's the woman who is in every case going to be the person who is refused her prescription. And that is clearly sex discrimination."

While I don't fully buy Waxman's view (it hurts these women's male partners too, since they may not wish to become fathers against their will), it gets worse than that. Some pharmacists "just say no" to filling the prescriptions. Others don't offer these women alternative locations where they can get them filled. A few zealous pharmacists have actually gone off the deep end and refused to return the prescriptions to the women for whom they were written. That's obstruction -- someone who is licensed by the state to provide a medical service (to wit, the pharmacist) has instead barred a customer from obtaining that service.

Although pharmacists can face penalties for obstructing state laws, only one case has gone before a judge. And according to the National Women's Law Center, four states allow pharmacists to legally refuse service. Wisconsin is considering expanding its law.

The type of birth control being denied to customers is at issue, too. Many of these women are filling prescriptions for birth control pills, but in high doses they become so-called emergency contraception. Or they're taking RU-486, the "abortion pill." [Editor's Note: The original publication of this column incorrectly referred to it as the "morning-after" pill.] If not taken within a relatively short time after unprotected sex, emergency contraception doesn't work.

The Washington Post recently recounted the story of one woman refused these services, "By the time Suzanne Richards, 21, finally got another pharmacy to fill her abortion pill prescription -- after being rejected by a drive-through Brooks pharmacy in Laconia, N.H., one late Saturday night in September -- the 72 hours had long passed."

All this is driven by America's overarching evangelical community. Most religious and even most evangelical Americans are satisfied with abiding by their own religious mores. But the extreme right wing is trying to force the rest of us who don't agree with their tortuous, constricted view of scripture to live by their self-imposed rules nonetheless.

My question back to these same pharmacists would be, who's guarding the condom aisle? Do their "consciences" prevent them from filling prescriptions for Viagra and other male sex drugs, especially when unmarried men want to buy them? If they're going to make moral judgments about prescription drugs, let them work at church-run hospitals, instead of in commercial pharmacies. Better yet, drop out of the profession entirely and become missionaries.

In Wisconsin, state law gives doctors and pharmacists the right to refuse to perform abortions or sterilizations on moral or religious grounds. A new bill expands this right to six more activities. The right-to-life Web sites are spinning up into heaven over this, and over the fact they've marshaled the resources to push 11 more state legislatures to consider such measures.

Personally, I keep waiting for the day when such zealotry backfires and tips the weight of American public opinion against religious oppression, because that is what it is quickly becoming. If state-licensed health care workers can impose their religious views on Americans who do not share them, what is the difference between the United States and the Iranian theocracy? Even differences between us and the Taliban wear tenuously thin. And the word "democracy" no longer applies.

---

Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail [e-mail].

[nana]

I have just mailed this out to almost everyone listed in my email address book and I'm copy/pasting it 'as is' to this site as well:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19 Apr 2005 08:49:29:

Dear Friends and Family,

This is what I received from Walmart after signing a letter/petition protesting their policies regarding birth control. My original letter/petition to them is at the bottom of this email

I have replied by telling them that I will never again set foot in any Walmart or any other store with the same policies regarding birth control.

Please consider adding your own name and comments to the petition at:

www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/792375278


Thanks

-----------------------

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting us at Walmart.com regarding women?s prescriptions for birth control. Your comments and concerns are very important to us as we strive to meet your needs.

Wal-Mart does not carry emergency contraceptives.

Our pharmacists may decline to fill a prescription based on personal convictions.

However, they must find another pharmacist, either at Wal-Mart or another pharmacy, who can assist you by filling your prescription.

Again, we thank you for your comments regarding this issue.

Sincerely,


Customer Service at Walmart.com

Original Message Follows:
------------------------

March 31, 2005

Dear WalMart Pharmacy,

All over the country I have noticed a disturbing trend of
pharmacies refusing to fill women's prescriptions for birth
control. When a woman and her doctor decide that a
prescription for contraception is in the woman's best
interest, a third party has no right to override that
decision. Pharmacies must ensure that patients get their
doctor-prescribed medication without delay or
inconvenience. I ask that your company assure me and your
other customers that no woman seeking prescription
contraception will be turned away by your company's
pharmacies.

As a customer, I want all of my prescriptions to be filled:
My prescribed medications are between me and my doctor,
it's the pharmacists job to dispense whatever has been
prescribed by my physician. Period.
If you don't want to dispense some medications get out of the profession.

And just to be clear, I'm several decades beyond child bearing
years but I remember our relief when 'the pill' became
available after having been told by my doctor that another
pregnancy would be dangerous to my health so with the pill,
my husband and I had one less thing to worry about.

I wonder how these same people feel about dispensing Viagra
and its cousins?

No doubt a majority of your customers take for granted that
women should be able to receive their birth control despite
the personal beliefs of the individual pharmacist. Timely
access to contraception is central to women's health,
autonomy, and equality. We must trust women and their
doctors to make their own reproductive health decisions.

I thank you, in advance, for protecting your customer's
health by ensuring your pharmacy will guarantee women have
unhindered access to their prescribed medications.

Thank you for your attention and support.

Sincerely,

[Moses]

www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/national/19pill.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th

Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Senator Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, have introduced the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, which would allow a pharmacist to refuse to dispense certain drugs as long as another pharmacist on duty would.

---

Six states - California, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, New Mexico and Washington - already have laws that skirt the lack of F.D.A. approval of over-the-counter sales of Plan B. These laws, called collaborative practice measures, allow pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill if they have received training or certification from the state and are working in collaboration with a physician. Eight other states, including New York and Massachusetts, are considering similar laws.

The Massachusetts law would also require hospitals to inform rape victims about the pill, something Catholic hospitals, in particular, object to. Colorado's governor, Bill Owens, a Republican and a Catholic, vetoed such a bill this month, saying in his explanation, "it is one of the central tenets of a free society that individuals and institutions should not be coerced by government to engage in activities that violate their moral or religious beliefs."

[nana]

I'm beginning to think it's time to start protesting at sporting events and other places where there are large numbers of people, during the singing of the national anthem because the words at end are now complete lies. When any one person or group can impose their values and beliefs on people who do not share their values and beliefs, this is NO LONGER a FREE COUNTRY.

"the land of the free and the home of the brave" has become, sadly,
"the land of the greed and the home of the bully"

The United States of Americult

Stand up and turn our backs, with heads bowed?
A potential problem with that may be getting beaten up by all the 'good murikins'.

[Moses]

I read something by a student about the lack of freedom linked to the immorality of those who are imposing their supposed religious beliefs on the rest of us (imposing their psychopathology, I think).

Same thoughts expressed-- I think the youth is angry-- none of the adults other than Howard Dean are addressing this issue of freedom-- that is, the right to privacy and private decisions -- and morality-- that is, the morality of this crew is greed, as you say. Because while they impose theocracy on all, they tout an ethic of unconcern about provision of communal assistance and society that is in keeping w/ the American principles of human needs/dignity trumping a system that promotes the furtherance of an economic ideology/theory.

Alot of anger because this really hasn't been well articulated by anyone in a position to influence anything. (other than Howard Dean!)

[Moses]

Planned Parenthood Federation of America Pharmacy Survey

Thumbs up:

CVS, Costco, Harris Teeter, Kmart, Price Chopper.

Thumbs Down:

Rite Aid, Walmart, Winn Dixie

Unknown policies:
Duane Reade, Giant, Piggly Wiggly, Safeway, Target.