"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in..."

I apologize for the absence. I haven't felt inspired to write...until now.

Before I begin, a disclaimer. I write under my real name. When I set up this site, I thought a little about using a pseudonym but ultimately, I decided against that. The only thing that gave me pause was that I am an educator at a small college and I am always wary of any barrier that may come between my students and me. Or that what I say here may haunt me in another aspect of my life. It is no secret that I am fairly liberal and that I am outspoken in my circle of friends on what I believe. However, I keep that in check at work, because I realize that for people that don't share my ideologies, that may be a barrier to developing the trust inherent in my work with college students.

Ultimately I decided that I was not giving the amazing students I work with credit enough to separate me from my beliefs. So while I try to keep this site light and fairly humorous, I will occasionally dip into observations that will take a side on an issue. This post is one of them. It deals with birth control and a woman's right to choose. If you continue reading consider yourself forewarned.

Besides, I am finding that the only time my students get really critical of this site is when I fail to "bring the funny". For that I have no excuse.....

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I am on a few liberal "call to action" mail listings. You know, the kind of list where some organization has created a form letter to be sent to address an unfair policy or tragedy. I usually don't participate because either I only half agree with the proposed action or don't trust the source. Actually, I am mostly just to lazy to fill it out.

Tonight I received an action calling for pharmacies to honor prescriptions for birth control, in particular "the Morning After Pill". Naive guy that I am, I had no idea a pharmacy could choose what drugs they distributed. Apparently they can.

Here is the canned letter that was sent on my behalf:

Dear [National Pharmacy],

All over the country I have noticed a disturbing trend of pharmacies refusing to fill women's prescriptions for birth control. When a woman and her doctor decide that a prescription for contraception is in the woman's best interest, a third party has no right to override that decision. Pharmacies must ensure that patients get their doctor-prescribed medication without delay or inconvenience. I ask that your company assure me and your other customers that no woman seeking prescription contraception will be turned away by your company's pharmacies.

No doubt a majority of your customers take for granted that women should be able to receive their birth control despite the personal beliefs of the individual pharmacist. Timely access to contraception is central to women's health, autonomy, and equality. We must trust women and their doctors to make their own reproductive health decisions.

I thank you, in advance, for protecting your customer's health by ensuring your pharmacy will guarantee women have unhindered access to their prescribed medications.

Thank you for your attention and support.

Sincerely,


Ian Martin

This was sent to all the major pharmacy chains: CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Eckerd, and Wal-Mart.

Almost instantly I got an email from Walgreens indicating the receipt of my email. It was a standard automated response to my automated submission.

Two seconds later I received the following from Wal-Mart:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting us at Walmart.com regarding women's prescriptions for birth control. Your comments and concerns are very important to us as we strive to meet your needs.

Wal-Mart does not carry emergency contraceptives. Our pharmacists may decline to fill a prescription based on personal convictions. However, they must find another pharmacist, either at Wal-Mart or another pharmacy, who can assist you by filling your prescription.

Again, we thank you for your comments regarding this issue.

Sincerely,


Customer Service at Walmart.com

So what this means is not only can a pharmacist refuse to honor a prescription that a doctor has prescribed for the benefit of the patients health based solely on their belief system. (Which is really just rhetoric for pharmacists being able to refuse to honor birth control). It also means that once again Wal-Mart is inappropriately developing a corporate policy that devalues women and is so heinous that they should be run out of business.

I really encourage anyone who reads this, please stop shopping at Wal-Mart.

Also, if you would also like to send out a letter like I did, please click here. If you choose to act, I would love to know about it. Either leave a comment or email me.

Nai