WaPo: 'Pro-Life' Drugstores Market Beliefs

[primavera]

When DMC Pharmacy opens this summer on Route 50 in Chantilly, the shelves will be stocked with allergy remedies, pain relievers, antiseptic ointments and almost everything else sold in any drugstore. But anyone who wants condoms, birth control pills or the Plan B emergency contraceptive will be turned away.

That's because the drugstore, located in a typical shopping plaza featuring a Ruby Tuesday, a Papa John's and a Kmart, will be a "pro-life pharmacy" -- meaning, among other things, that it will eschew all contraceptives.

The pharmacy is one of a small but growing number of similar drugstores around the country that have become the latest front in a conflict pitting patients' rights against those of health-care workers who assert a "right of conscience" to refuse to provide care or products that they find objectionable.

snip

Pharmacists at eight pro-life drugstores contacted by The Washington Post said they would not actively interfere with a woman trying to fill a prescription elsewhere, but none post signs announcing their restrictions or offer to help women get what they need elsewhere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/15/AR2008061502180.html

:nuke:

[Prophet 451]

1. They DO have a "right of conscience"

Thing is, most of us call that the right to quit if you find the duties of your job morally objectionable.

Someone needs to nip this idiocy in the bud quickly. If it's allowed to continue, you're going to end up with pharamcists being allowed to refuse to fill drugs for, say, HIV/AIDS on the grounds of teh disease being "God's punishment" or refusing to dispense anti-depressents because prayer should be enough. This shit is dangerous.

[primavera]

3. Exactly

If these guys find their jobs morally reprehensible, they should feel free to quit and take up an alternative line of work that they find less morally complicated. However, IF they wish to practice a particular profession, they have an obligation to fulfill the responsibilities of that profession. Don't pharmacists have to take some oath akin to that which doctors and lawyers have to take in order to practice their professions? Can you imagine a doctor refusing to save the life of a patient because s/he was black, for instance? Or an attorney refusing to zealously advocate on behalf of a client because s/he was homosexual? You'd get disbarred for that sort of discriminatory practive so fast it would make your head spin! So why isn't there a professional or licensing association for pharmacists out there busily ripping off these assholes' heads and shitting down their necks for this kind of reprehensible behavior?

Grrr, it just makes me so mad! :mad:

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[atommom]

2. I fear that the religious right will be happy to provide support for these pharmacies.

If they are successful, pro-lifers might be encouraged to attend pharmacy school to achieve their goal of blocking women from obtaining contraception. In small communities, it might become impossible for women to get adequate reproductive health care.

[primavera]

8. Agreed

On the flip side, I wonder what places like Bristol Meyers Squibb are doing about all of this? God, I never thought I'd live to see the day when I'd look to the pharmaceutical industry for a good deed, but they're the ones with the bottomless coffers, the influential lobbyists, and the solid platinum connections, and they can't be happy watching pharmacists selectively refusing to distribute their products like this. Sooner or later, it's going to cut into their profit margins and, as we all know, the pharmaceutical industry will unhesitatingly kill anyone who stands between them and their money.

[atommom]

19. It would be interesting if the pharmaceutical companies tried to strike back.

I'm not sure what they would do, but you're right, they don't appreciate losing money. That could be an interesting battle to watch.

[Quantess]

41. It could happen.

I'm trying to envision a happy oucome, such as, it has to get worse before it gets better.

[silverweb]

4. Okay.

I don't have a problem with them restricting their business in that way, but I do think they should be REQUIRED to CLEARLY post notification of their business philosophy at the entrance of the store and at the prescription counter.

If they think they should be allowed to increase "converts" by drawing in unsuspecting women for rejection of their needs and a sermon, that should be a real issue.

[MountainLaurel]

5. Interesting coincidence

When I was living in VA and looking for a new OB-GYN because of yet another insurance switch, I almost ended up at that Tepeyac place (the one that runs the pharmacy mentioned in the story) because it was the closest office to my apartment that also accepted my insurance. For some reason, I decided to do an Internet search of the doctor's name to see what popped up. I found that she had won an award from one of the major pro-forced-birth organizations for her medical practice's efforts to further the "pro-life" cause. I felt like I had dodged a bullet, and from that point forward whenever I've had to look for a new doctor, I've tried as hard as I could to ensure that only pro-choice physicians got my money, because I'm not going to support someone whose dogma will always trump my health.

[Skittles]

6. disgusting n/t

[Book Lover]

7. Pathetic (nm)

[silverojo]

9. Time to boycott their asses into oblivion

There are more of us than there are anti-choice assholes.

[primavera]

12. Hear, hear!

It's a good thing I don't live in Chantilly, I'd be hard pressed to keep myself from spray painting swastikas on their storefront windows and setting up burning crosses in their parking lot. Assholes!

[kestrel91316]

16. Boycott, hell. Picket them and block their entrances just like they do

with women's health clinics.

[primavera]

17. Now THAT'S a good idea!

:applause:

[MountainLaurel]

18. If only I were still living in NoVA

:evilgrin:

[sharesunited]

10. No Plan B is one thing. But no contraceptives at all?

Are there a lot of Catholics in Chantilly? Where the hell IS Chantilly, anyway? Virginia?

[primavera]

13. Yeah, it's in Virginia

But Plan B contraceptives are just the beginning. As the articles states, the success some pharmacists have had refusing to dispense contraceptives is encouraging all sorts of other religious wackos to start practicing their professions selectively based upon their religious beliefs. If it's okay to discriminate against women seeking the morning after pill because you disapprove of abortion, it's a short trip to denying contraception because you think it promotes promiscuity, from whence it's just another short hop to denying care to homosexuals, or to persons of other ethnicities or religious beliefs or whatever. It's death by inches and where does it end?

[atommom]

20. Exactly. This seems like a clear violation of professional ethics.

Any health professional who isn't willing to provide the necessary health care should find another line of work. They're trying to play God, and will hurt people in the process.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MountainLaurel]

14. DC suburbs

On the western edge of Fairfax County, just before you cross into Prince William. I don't know if there are a lot of Catholics compared to the rest of the population in the county. The largest groups of Catholics in the area are probably Hispanic immigrants.

[davidinalameda]

11. they should post their restrictions

but I'm sure that people will get the message out about these places soon enough

[hendo]

15. I love how pro-lifers...

are increasingly anti-safe sex. It is true that abstinence leads to kids not getting pregnant, but kids only remain abstinent for so long. All that denying people to have safe sex will do is lead to more abortions and more widespread STDs.

It is amazing that they don't see that.

[MountainLaurel]

21. I think they've always been anti-safe sex

Just as they've always been anti-contraception (if you look at the history of it, they've been working against access to the Pill for more than 30 years now). It's just now that their true colors are showing up in the MSM.

[hendo]

22. hmm, alright

I used to be pretty pro-life, but I always understood the need for contraceptives. Oh well. More abortions for them to protest, I guess. Maybe they should just picket themselves, that would make more sense in the end.

[musette_sf]

23. and of course they will dispense Viagra n/t

[HockeyMom]

26. Condoms?

How do condoms by any wildest stretch of the imagination equate to an abortion? Every sperm is sacred?

They must be catholic pharmacies. No birth control of any kind whatsoever.

[MountainLaurel]

27. It's not just the Catholics who are anti-birth control

Although I do believe that Tepeyac is associated with Catholics. But if you look at any of the pro-forced-birth groups, most will openly state that they are anti-BC as well. It's that they see pregnancy and STDs as punishment for having enjoyable sex and think that the world only started going to hell in a handbasket once those punishments were ameliorated via condoms, the Pill, etc.

[uberllama42]

28. That's just fucking stupid.

This is an example of what Dan Dennet calls "the spell." We are expected to respect these people's insane beliefs simply because they are religious in nature. But those beliefs are just fucking stupid. And in the public discourse we should be able to say so. We should be able to point out that their beliefs come from ideas that are demonstrably false.

[uppityperson]

29. I guess they are pro-abortion then, since they don't like contraception.

If anyone boycotts or contacts them, you can make that point.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

30. Tell them if they are pro-life they'll carry condoms to eliminate the need for abortions.

We don't want more unplanned pregnancies now, do we?

[Rebelscum954]

31. They have every right

A pharmacy is a business just like any other, and they have every right to choose what they will and will not sell. Buying a product from anywhere is a mutual agreement between consumer and the company selling the product. The consumer agrees to buy said product and the company agrees to sell said product at whatever price. No one is stopping these people from filling prescriptions at other, willing pharmacies. Within reason, to be morally acceptable the agreement NEEDS to be free and voluntary on both sides. Pushing for government regulation coerces one side at gunpoint into agreeing against their own personal moral beliefs. Just as it is wrong for them to legislate their moral beliefs (No gay marriage, no abortion etc.) it is equally wrong for you to legislate yours (restricting a businesses right to sell what they want to sell).

The precedent set by forcing a business owner to sell something against his will is a horrifying one. Are we going to start forcing GameStop to sell Mountain Dew just because it is proven fact that nothing is more awesome than video games+Mountain Dew?

[Iris]

I think selling Mountain Dew and forcing women to have children they don't want are on far different

planes of "horrifying".

Give me a break.

[Rebelscum954]

33. Explain how they are forcing women to have children.

If this were the only Pharmacy in existence on earth, you might have a point. Fact of the matter is there is a walgreens or CVS on every street corner. If you don't want to have kids, go to one of those.

I personally find the actions of the pharmacy in question detestable, and thus would never shop there or a place similar to it. But I sure as hell don't want to spit all over their freedom and property rights via government intervention.

[Iris]

34. I have a better idea. Why don't you explain why your are here?

In particular, why are you in the Choice thread which was specifically created for people who are pro-choice and are concerned with the continuous erosion of reproductive rights?

Also, your free market rhetoric would probably be better received elsewhere.

[Rebelscum954]

35. Oh, I'm verry sorry kind sir.

I'm sorry, I forgot we had to think with a hive mind on this forum.

I'm pro-choice, that's why I am here.

[AndyTiedye]

36. Not Every Community Has a Pharmacy on Every Corner, and Not Every Woman Has a Car

Their goal is to deny access to birth control.

[Rebelscum954]

37. What if a community has no pharmacy?

A business can choose to sell or choose not to sell any product they want. They are choosing not to sell a certain product. End of story.

Also, what if a community has no pharmacy? How would women without cars get birth control in that case? Should we make all convenience stores/clothing stores etc. etc. offer birth control in the off chance that there is no pharmacy available?

[Iris]

38. You are so smart! Yes! Let the market take care of everything. If women can't get access to birth

control, then they'll just have lots and lots of kids! The market fixes everything!

[Iris]

39. ah! Arguing with a ghost again, Iris.

Almost as bad as talking to yourself!

[Scout]

40. don't feel bad, i've done that occasionally

at least "it's" a ghost now!

[DU GrovelBot]

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[MIS_UNDER_ESTIMATED]

42. Birth control is used for other purposes

Birth control is used for other purposes other than preventing pregnancy. Many teens (that are not having sex) are still prescribed some forms of the pill to help clear their skin or to help with severe cramping. What right does the pharmacist have in refusing to prescibe the pill? Here are examples of people that are not even having SEX!!! Are the pharmacists going to ask about each customer's sex life to see what reason they are using a prescription for? It is none of their business. Are they going to stop selling viagra unless they know the sex lives of the men they are giving it to? After all, a single man should not being having sex outside of marriage. :eyes:

[galaxy21]

43. Why open a Pharmacist if you're not going to stock contraception?

That has to be, like, the number one thing women get. So, your going to open up a business, and not give people the one thing they usually want? Its like opening up a toolshop, and not selling any power tools.

If your not comfortable selling contraception, you probably shouldn't open a pharmacy. Just from a practical point of view, its crazy.