This is just appalling
In April, Julee Lacey, 33, a Fort Worth, TX, mother of two, went to her local CVS drugstore for a last-minute Pill refill. She had been getting her prescription filled there for a year, so she was astonished when the pharmacist told her, "I personally don't believe in birth control and therefore I'm not going to fill your prescription." Lacey, an elementary school teacher, was shocked. "The pharmacist had no idea why I was even taking the Pill. I might have needed it for a medical condition."
Melissa Kelley, 35, was just as stunned when her gynecologist told her she would not renew her prescription for birth control pills last fall.
"She told me she couldn't in good faith prescribe the Pill anymore," says Kelley, who lives with her husband and son in Allentown, PA. Then the gynecologist told Kelley she wouldn't be able to get a new prescription from her family doctor, either. "She said my primary care physician was the one who helped her make the decision."
Lacey's pharmacist and Kelley's doctors are among hundreds, perhaps thousands, of physicians and pharmacists who now adhere to a controversial belief that birth control pills and other forms of hormonal contraception--including the skin patch, the vaginal ring, and progesterone injections--cause tens of thousands of "silent" abortions every year. Consequently, they are refusing to prescribe or dispense them.
Scenarios like these--virtually unheard of 10 years ago--are happening with increasing frequency. However, until this spring, the issue received little attention outside the antiabortion community. It wasn't high on the agendas of reproductive rights advocates, who have been preoccupied with defending abortion rights and emergency contraception. But when Lacey's story was picked up by a Texas TV station and later made the national news, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and others took notice.
Limiting access to the Pill, these groups now say, threatens a basic aspect of women's health care. An estimated 12 million American women use hormonal contraceptives, the most popular form of birth control in the United States after sterilization. The Pill is also widely prescribed by gynecologists and family doctors for other uses, such as clearing up acne, shrinking fibroids, reducing ovarian cancer risk, and controlling endometriosis.
"Where will this all stop?" asks Lacey. "And what if these pharmacists decide they suddenly don't believe in a new lifesaving medicine? I don't think pharmacists should be in a position to decide these things."
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3 comments:
The thing that's appalling isn't anything to do with religion. It's denying basic medical care for women. The fact that it's being pushed by the current dogmas of the fascist conservative christians doesn't change anything. If a muslim pharmacist had done the same thing I'd think they were just as wrong. I remember when this issue first came up with the morning after pill. States issued "moral conscience" laws, but according to the way I remember, a pharmacist as well as any medical building has to have someone that is willing to provide that perscription, even if the main pharmacist or whatever is against it. In other words, the moral choice is okay so long as the company continues to provide service. The reason this is a huge issue, and not just something to balk about is that many cases(more than half actually) where birth control is prescribed isn't even for birth control at all. There are serious preventative measures that utilize the pill to regulate a woman's cycle for a variety of reasons. And besides that, the "reason" behind the argument that those discussed in this article bring to the table isn't even proven! There is no proof that a fertilized egg won't attach to the uterine wall because of the pill. In fact there are cases where the opposite has been proved. Which is another indication that birth control is merely a method of minimizing the chance of pregnancy, it doesn't stop all cases.
My big beef on all this though, aside from the outrage to women, is that there is a push in this country to salvage life at the fetal level, yet it is blatantly disregarded in adults. Most of the same folks that bitch about abortion vote for pro-capital punishment laws. This is a contradiction. Also, on a grand scale, it's the human population that is killing this planet, because we've overpopulated. If there were a slightly higher species then us on this planet, there would be a hunting season like deer have. We wreck habitats, we wreck the environment and when some people decide not to have children, often because they can't afford them, then the woman has to be ridiculed even going into a "supportive" organization for treatment. It's just a fucked up way of handling things, and it's definately wrong. There is nothing in the bible, the qu'ran, the torah or any other religious document that says "abortion" "birth control" or "medical treatment" is wrong. If you find that passage, let me know.
I gotta side with Josh on this one Pete. This wasn't a liberal vs. conservative argument. I just happened to be able to throw that spin on it slightly because of the specifics of the article. The main argument here isn't about right or left or Bush and Cheney or anything other than idiots thinking that theology, in whatever forum, should dictate science, and that's just stupid because as in this case it affects people. Now I can make the argument that the right stands behind these folks, because they do. Bush wants faith based initiatives. Bush wants theocracy to promote policy. But as Josh points out, no one here is really arguing that. I was pointing out how the fuckup at the pharmacy was an asshole too, but I was also criticizing the system that allowed for it. This is why the abortion issue is a big argument for the left, because pro-choice is pro-women. Regardless of what argument you want to make. Anytime a bunch of men in suits decide what a woman does with her body, they are placing that woman on a lower peg in society. Women deserve the choices that modern science provides to help them compete with Men and be equal. This business with the pill is the example. Some women have periods that are crippling because of cramps and pains. Some women bleed profusely to the point where they become anemic and can even hemmoridge(I know I spelled that wrong) the pill is a solution for these ailments, a medically proven solution. Put your self in her shoes once in a while Pete. Oh and like Josh said, you should probably read what you're arguing against before you argue, you might just agree with me once in a while.
I guess I could send out invitations again. Where's Don Cook? He was here for a bit and then just disappeared.
Pete, no one is just bashing you, but you made a direct comment questioning if my opinion would be different if it were about a different religion, well I didn't place an opinion at that point. I just posted the article and the answer is no, anyways. The reason Josh and I jumped on your comments is because the article isn't about religion or politics, it's about denial of service, that's what I was referencing, what prompts that denial is ignorance regardless of what face it wears.
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