Things that suck I: Druggists refuse to give out birth control pills

This is such bullshit, why the fuck would you become a doctor or pharmacist if you had moral issues with ANY health issue or procedure?

I'm pretty sure this entire country has lost its shit completely, to be totally honest.

"I refuse to dispense a drug with a significant mechanism to stop human life," says Karen Brauer, president of the 1,500-member Pharmacists for Life International.

DAMN NEAR EVERYTHING YOU DISPENSE CAN KILL PEOPLE.

I haven't had a prescription in nearly ten years or else I'd be right there with you.

http://www.cjr.org/issues/2004/6/mooney-science.asp

Personally, if this was going on anywhere around me, I'd just lob a brick or two through their windows in the middle of the night.

Well fuck this, if there is such a thing as the "Pharmacists for Life International" then this gives us a list of what pharmacies are involved in this ugly practice.

So people should serve it right back up to them. Don't just boycott them - picket them, harrass them, make their lives hell and put them out of business! I almost wish I lived in the US because if I did, I would seriously start organising such a thing.

I would have thought in the greater scheme of things that doctor's orders trumped pharmacist's wishes. If one was in a one-drugstore town with a zealot in charge and one could experience delays in treatment due to that person's obstruction, there are legal remedies there.

I too would have thought there was some law around scrips that mean if a doctor's issued one, it must be filled, stuff wank what the chemist thinks. I guess not though. I sincerely hope it never comes to that here - but if it does I'll be first in line to organise protests against it. As someone who's had to be on the pill for medical rather than birth control reasons myself, this issue is very important to me.

Tho I've a sinking feeling that perhaps in some small or very close knit religious townships maybe it'd have the opposite effect :/ Also if it was the only one in town as someone said above... god how horrible. Aie, this whole thing upsets me.

This could be a very serious problem when it comes to Plan B emergency contraception, which has a limited window of opportunity. Online and mail-order pharmacies are not much help when you need a prescription filled right away.

Refusing to return a script is clearly in violation of the law, unless Texas has some really insane law codes that I am unaware of, Emily. That's grounds to revoke their licencing.

What is disturbing for me is a macro issue, that 'family values' is just diet feudalism and a feudal society is a retrograde step. I've been banging on at the New Feudalism for ages and now all the mainstream press here refers to ' bloodlines' when writing about nepotistic subjects, whether royalty, someone who's Isabella Rosselini's daughter or just from generations of Italian bakers. Feudalism entrenches class divisions and racial divisions on the basis of being part of 'the family' or not. Women are particularly subordinated or placed in 'power behing the throne' or if in power given 'queen bee' status.

Just think about it. Where is this GOING?

Although I will point out that NY also has laws that require any insurance company who wants to issue policies in NY to cover ALL female reproductive issues, and not just pre- and post-natal care, so we might just be extraordinarily progressive. That being said, Arizona also requires doctors to provide full alternative information (including, of course, adoption information as well as abortion information and such). The law's ostensible intent is to protect OBGYNs who cannot perform the services due to lack of equipment et al but obviously also protects those who refuse to provide abortions for moral reasons.

xpost yeah that's basically what I'm implying, there are quite a few legal reasons why taking a script and neither filling it nor returning it to the patient is blatantly against the law and no amount of opt-out "Oh maybe the pharmacy doesn't have this medication" loophole laws can protect that.

I wonder if this is something someone could keep on hand, in case of emergency?

xpost yeah, Suzy, that was an issue brought up in the article, or one of the ones posted, I believe, that a doctor or two initially refused to even return the script.

* No problem here is a misnomer. I do have a problem with someone entering the health industry with a clear cut moral agenda against scientifically accepted procedures, as I really don't understand why someone would BECOME an OBGYN if they refuse to deal with any reproductive issues besides carried-out pregnancies and will not prescribe any preventative measures, but it's really not my job to tell people they shouldn't get involved in a profession if they have some kind of moral objection to major sections of what the profession involves.

I don't have a problem with it when there is a drugstore on every corner .. Unfortunately, again, the argument leaves out poorer people in smaller cities, suburban or rural locations who may have to travel a fur piece to get to another pharmacy. And without owning a car and without public transportation available.

So for that reason, I'm against a pharmacist or doctor intervening in such a way.

Also, Planned Parenthoods generally have limited pharmacies located within them as well...again this doesn't really HELP women who are in areas with only a small number of pharmacies to choose from, where a Planned Parenthood might be hours away.