Not that I'm really surprised, but the Strib reported yesterday that anti-contraception pharmacists refused to fill the birth control prescriptions of two Minnesota women in unrelated incidents.
This looks to me like a pretty dangerous slippery slope. If pharmacists can refuse to dispense birth control based on their moral objections to it, why couldn't a wingnut cashier at Target or Walgreen's refuse to let me buy condoms, sponges, or any other form of birth control available over-the-counter? After all, if the issue is that being party to the distribution of contraception is morally objectionable, why would it apply only to pharmacists? I don't even want to think about the scary places this could end up. Someone tell me I'm just being paranoid...
Posted by at May 4, 2005 1:18 PM | TrackBackNot too paranoid...at least the person in Richfield had a lot of other places to go, but the real problem is in small towns where the next pharmacy is many miles away. Something should be done to prevent this. The religious fundie nuts who pull the strings of our government are working on a gradual plan to outlaw birth control, just like in the good 'ol days!
Posted by: Doc Dregs at May 4, 2005 1:25 PM...a bit more rope...people are really getting fed up with this stuff. If the Dems can get their s together they could kick some b in 2006. This should be illegal. If you don't want to be a dispense certain things, start a christian fundamentalist drug store or something. People need to boycott these places! Let's picket the sonsabitches! I'm serious! They are working for company not a church! Are there any more free-market Repubs out there?!!!!!!!
Posted by: Tiberius at May 4, 2005 7:43 PMJust because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you....
Posted by: Danielle at May 5, 2005 7:25 AMNo, you are not paranoid, and pharmacists are paid to do a job, not to try to impose their morals on others. If they don't want to dispense a prescription legally prescribed by a physician, they should go find another line of work. It's business like anything else, not to mention it may as well be a health issue as many women for instance take the pill for hormonal therapy reasons, not contraception. Why should she get a "lecture" as well from some fundamentalist. This definitely should be acted upon.
Posted by: Angel at May 10, 2005 10:04 AMI have a counter-view. I say a pharmacist should be able to refuse to provide anything that goes against his version of morality (or any other reason). Likewise, the teenage who works at McDonalds should be allowed to refuse to serve hamburgers. If these people have supervisors who object, they can be fired for being insubordinate and failing to carry out job duties. If one pharmacist in town won't fill a prescription, customers can always go elsewhere. TYhe fact that elsewhere might be 50 miles away is irrelevant and a price one continually pays for living in a small town.
If pharmacies were government agencies or receive government funds and are expected to comply with certain rules to get those funds, my argument would be different. But pharmacies are free enterprise - as such they are free to do business as they see fit.
Posted by: Jim at June 17, 2005 2:27 PM