posted
Oklahoma House Bill 2884 passed yesterday, and is now in the Senate.
no pharmacist or pharmacy employee "may be required to dispense medication if there is reason to believe that the medication would be used to cause an abortion, destroy an unborn child."
This leaves a gaping excuse for pharmacists to withhold BC, in addition to EC. Of course, the bill's supporters will deny that.
The bill was sponsored by Thad Balkman, the representative from Norman, where the U. of Okla. is located. There was a large pro-life event on the campus yesterday. Photos of fetuses after a D & E, chants of "genocide," etc.
My friends (and I, as a not-infrequent visitor of the state) are writing letters to the state senators.
I thought I was pissed off before...
Posts: 455 | From: New York, NY | Registered: Apr 2005
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I wonder if they'll also add a law saying they don't need to dispense the meds that allow men to control their reproductive choices (i.e. Viagra).
Or a score of other meds that may somehow conflict with your own personal beliefs on any topic--would a Scientologist pharmacist be allowed to say "I don't believe that taking meds for psychiatric problems is right, so you can't fill your scrip for lithium/Thorazine/etc. with me"? Or a vegetarian pharmacist refusing to fill a Lipitor scrip because having heart problems must be related to eating red meat, and that's...just...wrong!
Medicine is so absolutely a profession where you are there to help others. Why would you go into it and then refuse to do what is expected of you? Especially as a pharmacist, whose job is to fill prescriptions.
All problems with terminology aside (EC doesn't cause abortion, RU-486 does...conception does not equal pregnancy, conception and implantation does, the whole "reason to believe" wording--if you're uninformed, you'll believe whatever the heck you want about the issue anyway), this is just another example of how women's reproductive rights are going down the drain right before our eyes.
-------------------- disconnect and let me drift/until my upside down is right side *in* Posts: 640 | From: The Valley of the Sun, AZ, USA | Registered: May 2004
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Along that line, MI just passed a bill a few days ago, allowing health insurances to not give out money for things that conflict with the companys ethics. Meaning, they do not have to pay for BC or EC if they don't want to.
There is something going very wrong in this country.
-------------------- -joey Scarleteen Volunteer
"The question is not who will let me, but who is going to stop me." -Ayn Rand Posts: 8424 | From: Cologne, Germany | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:I wonder if they'll also add a law saying they don't need to dispense the meds that allow men to control their reproductive choices (i.e. Viagra).
Well, the last federal budget changes per Medicare a month or two ago -- we're talking those of us who don't even have insurance or that sort of ability -- removed coverage for birth control, period.
While, thank you very much, including Viagra in what IS covered.
So, no, our administration and everyone who falls in step with them very clearly have no intent of adding any such policies. Quite the opposite.
(And the last time I had insurance, in 1984, BC wasn't covered then, either. It often hasn't been over time. So sadly, while things are very clearly getting worse, this isn't anything new.)
-------------------- Heather Corinna, Executive Director & Founder, Scarleteen About Me • Get our book! Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead Posts: 63428 | From: An island near Seattle | Registered: May 2000
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