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Curious Choices
Wal-Mart Changes Its Mind & South Dakota Restricts Abortion
Pharmacists - 1 Doctors & Patients - 0
The news this week includes two stories of interest in the fields of reproductive health and women's rights. First, Wal-Mart has changed its mind and has decided to sell Plan B Emergency Contraception in its pharmacies nationwide. Second, there's a new law in South Dakota that outlaws virtually all abortions.
Wal-Mart's decision, according to its "Wal-Mart Pharmacies to sell emergency contraception"press release, is based on the company's realization that it will most likely face further challenges in states other than Illinois and Massachusetts to its previous national policy not to sell emergency contraception. And, according to the Wal-Mart Vice President of Pharmacy, they "feel it is difficult to justify being the nation's only major pharmacy chain not selling it." The press release made no mention of any commitment to women's reproductive choice, and, quite importantly, the point was made that the company will maintain a conscientious objection policy, in which a pharmacy associate will be allowed to refuse to sell emergency contraception if he or she does not "feel comfortable" doing so. I wonder how this will play out in the politics at Wal-Mart: will an employee's "choice" be noted somewhere in a database or personnel file where the information will be used when considering which associates are eligible for promotion, raises, or service recognition? If I were a pharmacist at Wal-Mart I would wonder...
Contrast that to the new law in South Dakota that strips doctors of the right to choose to participate in abortion services by making it a felony offense. Most physicians who choose to perform abortions were thoroughly trained to do the procedures in residency programs, and they provide these services legally within the standard scope of practice of obstetrics and gynecology. I don't know a single physician who "enjoys" doing abortions, and I don't know any doctor who has done one against his or her will, or against a patient's choice. They do these procedures because they believe that reproductive freedom for women includes the right to choose a safe pregnancy termination, and because they choose to make their skills and expertise available in these situations. The new law drastically restricts the choices that doctors and patients can make - at least in South Dakota. Some conservative purists in the South Dakota legislature and Governor's office pushed ahead with this extreme legislation that is designed to spark a US Supreme Court challenge despite the fact that seventy to eighty percent of the Nation's population supports some access to legal abortion.
I find it curious that pharmacists' choice is being preserved at Wal-Mart while doctors' and patients' choice is being radically stripped elsewhere. This seems way out of sync with the beliefs of mainstream America, and I think it's time for women (and men) to voice their opposition to such attempts at puritanical control.
RW, MD
Related Links: Women's Health: State Rankings, Sex Habits and the 'Morning After' Pill
Technorati Tags: Plan B, Emergency Contraception, Morning After Pill, Abortion
Pharmacists - 1 Doctors & Patients - 0
The news this week includes two stories of interest in the fields of reproductive health and women's rights. First, Wal-Mart has changed its mind and has decided to sell Plan B Emergency Contraception in its pharmacies nationwide. Second, there's a new law in South Dakota that outlaws virtually all abortions.
Wal-Mart's decision, according to its "Wal-Mart Pharmacies to sell emergency contraception"press release, is based on the company's realization that it will most likely face further challenges in states other than Illinois and Massachusetts to its previous national policy not to sell emergency contraception. And, according to the Wal-Mart Vice President of Pharmacy, they "feel it is difficult to justify being the nation's only major pharmacy chain not selling it." The press release made no mention of any commitment to women's reproductive choice, and, quite importantly, the point was made that the company will maintain a conscientious objection policy, in which a pharmacy associate will be allowed to refuse to sell emergency contraception if he or she does not "feel comfortable" doing so. I wonder how this will play out in the politics at Wal-Mart: will an employee's "choice" be noted somewhere in a database or personnel file where the information will be used when considering which associates are eligible for promotion, raises, or service recognition? If I were a pharmacist at Wal-Mart I would wonder...
Contrast that to the new law in South Dakota that strips doctors of the right to choose to participate in abortion services by making it a felony offense. Most physicians who choose to perform abortions were thoroughly trained to do the procedures in residency programs, and they provide these services legally within the standard scope of practice of obstetrics and gynecology. I don't know a single physician who "enjoys" doing abortions, and I don't know any doctor who has done one against his or her will, or against a patient's choice. They do these procedures because they believe that reproductive freedom for women includes the right to choose a safe pregnancy termination, and because they choose to make their skills and expertise available in these situations. The new law drastically restricts the choices that doctors and patients can make - at least in South Dakota. Some conservative purists in the South Dakota legislature and Governor's office pushed ahead with this extreme legislation that is designed to spark a US Supreme Court challenge despite the fact that seventy to eighty percent of the Nation's population supports some access to legal abortion.
I find it curious that pharmacists' choice is being preserved at Wal-Mart while doctors' and patients' choice is being radically stripped elsewhere. This seems way out of sync with the beliefs of mainstream America, and I think it's time for women (and men) to voice their opposition to such attempts at puritanical control.
RW, MD
Related Links: Women's Health: State Rankings, Sex Habits and the 'Morning After' Pill
Technorati Tags: Plan B, Emergency Contraception, Morning After Pill, Abortion
