Of course, it would be nicer if they would just make the pharmacists do their job, since their objections aren't based on facts, but "make accommodations to have that prescription filled" is good too.
Posted by binky at March 9, 2007 09:33 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Reproductive AutonomyYou think it's not possible for "reasonable people to disagree" on the ethics of abortion?
Posted by: jacflash at March 10, 2007 07:40 AM | PERMALINKYou think Kroger selling Plan B has something to do with the ethics of abortion?
Posted by: Armand at March 10, 2007 12:29 PM | PERMALINKIt is factually incorrect for pharmacist to refuse to dispense plan b "because it causes abortions." Any pharmacist who claims that is a) ignorant and thus putting job qualifications in doubt or b) lying, and ditto. If the pharmacist does not believe in birth control in general (which plan B is), the pharmacist doesn't have to use birth control, but the job requires handing them over.
Posted by: binky at March 10, 2007 02:03 PM | PERMALINKArmand: yes.
I know at least one very smart, informed woman (who is nobody's idea of a conservative, or of a Christian) who will not take hormonal contraception for ethical reasons. I do not pretend to be informed myself, but I am quite sure that she did not take that position casually, without information, or because of anything resembling Christian religious doctrine. I know several other people who are willing to take a daily pill but have expressed qualms about Plan B from an ethical perspective. These people are not "ignorant" of the drug's actions.
As usual, the absolutist party line misses a lot of nuances. This is good fodder for internet shouting matches, maybe, but reality is not so black and white.
(And this is why I will never start a political blog. The idea of discourse as a nasty contest to be "won" by recourse to inane absolutes is repugnant.)
Posted by: jacflash at March 10, 2007 09:02 PM | PERMALINKAh, but my dear jacflash, this is not about a woman's ethics. This is about a woman's ethics leading her to a decision, which a stranger then tells her is not her own to make, based on her own morals. But this is not about discussing a woman's moral and ethical decision for herself.
Tell you what, before I researched Plan B, I had doubts too. The initial interpretations of research, especially in the main stream press, had some suggesting that Plan B might cause abortion. Follow up research and reports shows that this isn't the case, and that early speculation was greatly exaggerated.
It might surprise you that this absolutist also does not "believe in" choosing hormonal birth control. You see, that's my personal choice. But that has absolutely nothing to do with what doctors prescribe for their patients, nor the job of pharmacists, who are only middle persons for the doctors. That's all they are. Yes, they have to implement quality control and yes, they are tasked with catching drug interactions. Beyond that, it's none of their business. Highly trained, yes, but essentially still vending machines.
So, what I and my doctor decide, and what other women, and their doctors, and their ethical and moral beliefs dictate, those are the valid factors.
Pharmacists who are ignorant of what the law is, what their role is, and how drugs work, have no business telling a woman she can't buy birth control any more than a coke machine should tell you you can't have a Coke because it rots your teeth.
It's not about what a woman decides for herself, based on her own ethics. If women choose not to take hormonal contraception, I support that decision one hundred percent.
What I don't support are ignorant and/or lying people behind counters calling Plan B an abortion.
To have an abortion, a woman has to be pregnant. Plan B cannot work on a woman who is already pregnant.
And a pharmacist who tells you that taking Plan B is "aborting your baby" and that s/he can't allow you to go through with it, is the least supportive of women's moral and ethical choices. It's also factually wrong, and/or delusional, or a lie. It's just as offensive as forcing hormonal birth control for the woman who opposes it on her own ethical grounds, because it denies and negates her values.
Posted by: binky at March 11, 2007 01:01 AM | PERMALINK