Ladies, say goodbye to birth control...

[YellowRubberDuckie]

If Bush has his way...
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/5127/1/212
<snip>
“The lady came over to the window and said, ‘I’m so sorry I’m not going to be able to fill your prescription.’ I said, ‘Is there something wrong with the prescription?’ And she said, ‘No, I just personally do not believe in birth control.’”

Julee Lacey of North Richland, Texas, told NBC her conversation with a CVS pharmacist, who refused to fill her prescription for birth control. It sounds outrageous, but many fear it will be the wave of the future if George W. Bush and his congressional and judicial pals aren’t stopped in their all-out drive to dismantle Roe v. Wade and strip women of their most precious right, control of their own bodies.
<end snip>

This scares the crap out of me. In a time when even the unconstitutionality argument doesn't get attention anymore, what are we going to do?
Duckie

[apnu]

1. terrifying, and I'm male...

... however, this is old news. Thanks for the repost BTW!!!!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. I didn't realize it was from last week.

But timely, nonetheless.
Duckie

[belladonna]

3. Grab those IUD's while ya can

Good for either ten or twelve years now, I've had mine for nine and ain't NOBODY taking it away from me :P

[Not Me]

4. Must be afraid the pope will withold communion from her!

n/t

[Missy Vixen]

5. It's called the big snip

I'm not looking forward to more surgery, but I think I'll be spending the summer getting myself in better condition to have a tubal ligation.

We don't want kids, I have no desire to get pregnant. I'd rather be sure than wait for * and Ashcroft to outlaw birth control.

Julie

[catzies]

14. Tubal ligations not a big deal surgically speaking anymore.

I had mine done by laparoscopy, with minimal discomfort and downtime.

Matter of fact, the next night I had tickets to see Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison. I also had a handful of Vicodin though. :)

Yes, in these times, I consider getting my tubes tied to be a form of political protest. ;)

[REP]

49. I'm In Terrible Shape, and My Ligation Went Fine!

I have several severe chronic illnesses and I don't do well under anesthesia. My tubal ligation went very well. I had to stay overnight due to my boring illnesses, but the morning I was released I went out and did my laundry at a laundromat. I'm like you - nulliparous and staying that way.

If you hate haing periods, too, ask about having a uterine ablation when the ligation is done. It removes the endometrium, but doesn't screw up your hormones.

[Dookus]

6. relax

One dumbass pharmacy clerk doesn't make national law.

NOBODY is advocating outlawing birth control. It's a long-established constitutional right, and any attempt to take it away would be met with rioting.

[MaineDem]

11. In some areas pharmacists are allowed to refuse to dispense BC meds

We were discussing this at the march on Sunday. Do these pharmacists feel the same way about dispensing viagra et al?

Here in Maine it's now legal for pharmacists to dispense the Plan B (so called morning after) meds. I'm very proud of our Legislature and the Gov for signing it.

This pisses me off. It's why I was in Washington!

[Missy Vixen]

17. It's already happening

>NOBODY is advocating outlawing birth control. It's a long-established constitutional right, and any attempt to take it away would be met with rioting.<

Pharmacists who won't fill birth control or "morning after pill" prescriptions. Large chains (Wal-Mart comes to mind) that have also moved to restrict birth control or "morning after pill" access to unmarried women.

It's already starting, and it's already happening. Any "rioting" that would occur would be quickly hushed up.

Luckily, I'm over 40, so my body will most likely take care of things naturally before it gets much worse. If we get four more years of Asscroft and *, all bets are off. At the very least, we'll see a significant restriction of birth control access to all unmarried women, and most likely will lose Roe v. Wade as well.

Of course, IMHO, YMMV.

Julie

[Dookus]

24. well...

that's different from an attempt to outlaw birth control.

[fudge stripe cookays]

20. It's next on their agenda.

I'm reading Gloria Feldt's new book, "The War on Choice."

They are against any type of "abortifascients." That includes the Pill, IUD's, foam, spermicide, or anything that isn't a barrier method such as a condom or diaphragm. (Because af's prevent implantation)

In some cases, they are also against the condoms and diaphragms. Because they go against God's will.

If you think that this is not a full-scale war to reverse everything women have gained in the last century, I suggest you pick up a copy of this book. It's terrifying.

I just got back from the march yesterday. If people thought I was pissed before, they ain't seen nothin yet.

[Dookus]

23. I understand what you're saying.

I take nothing for granted. BUT....

I haven't heard a single politician even MENTION outlawing birth control. I know very well that a very small, but very vocal group of people oppose it - I know those people well. I was a clinic escort for years at three different clinics and I have a lot of experience with such nutcases.

My point, though, is there no POLITICAL effort of any size trying to outlaw birth control, and anybody who even attempted it would be booted out of office in a wink.

[fudge stripe cookays]

26. I admire your vision, but...

I think that right now abortion is first in their sights.

Once it goes down, it's only a matter of time before they begin going after birth control. They'll use the same arguments about unborn babies to brainwash really stupid women into believing this crap. And I'm shaking in my f:*^ing boots. I am NOT as optimistic as you are.

Thank God I can look forward to menopause in another 20 years. We've been snipped until then. I just pray nothing reverses. They say it happens from time to time.

[2Design]

29. they don't say it they just subtly change things

they tell their people from those tax exempt pulpits to rebel. don't fill prescriptions. They take over school boards, city councils and change things at a local level.....it is this kind of thing that forces their way on the rest of us

[Mandate My Ass]

32. 5 states have introduced legislation protecting pharmacists

and pharmacies from lawsuits for refusing to fill EC prescriptions. They very fallaciously equate it with the Hippocratic oath to "Do no harm."

It's not a far cry from refusing to fill EC to any BC.

This is very real, very scary and there are politicians firmly behind this movement who aren't being booted anywhere.

[Crowdance]

33. Politics are being driven by the Christian right now

And they're preaching their game plan now, if you care to look. Here's one guy on their team that quite brazenly calls for the abolition of birth control:

"Let it suffice to say contraception and abortion are the twin-children of a Medusa-like god with vipers on her head that represent a self-centered, anti-child, materialistic, non-theistic quality-of-life mentality that God will not indefinitely suffer as a rival.

"I believe Matt Trewhella, pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, aptly summarized the argument: "We have no God-given right to manipulate God's design for marriage by using birth control. As long as we continue to make 'possessions' and 'self' our god, and as long as we continue to look at children as a diaper bill rather than a blessing, we will never see the Church act in mass against baby-murder."'

Yep gotta keep those women pumpin' those babies out; we'll own 'em then....

There's more. Read it and be very, very afraid:

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/192004mc.asp

[fudge stripe cookays]

34. Thanks Crowdance.

I just lost my dinner.

[Crowdance]

36. Sorry, ginger tea sometimes helps me

[Dookus]

44. I never claimed that

there weren't such people. I said none of them are in office.

Find me ONE sitting Senator or Representative who has proposed ANY legislation outlawing birth control.

[fudge stripe cookays]

48. Here's an article for you. Don't go to Virginia anytime soon.

VA Republicans closing in on birth control.

It's no secret that Delegate Bob Marshall (R - Manassas) is one of the looniest bastards in the Virginia General Assembly. A devout Catholic, Marshall thinks that everybody else ought to be forced to follow the same belief structure that he does.

n early 2002, citing the September 11th attacks, he introduced a bill requiring that "In God We Trust" signs be posted in every public school. Because the Virginia Republicans in the General Assembly are largely pathetic sycophants, they pass laws like this with alarming regularity. In the same session, he introduced four bills limiting the availability of abortions. In 2003, Marshall introduced five nearly-identical versions of the same bill that would severely restrict abortion clinics. They were pretty appalling.

HB 1549, for example, sought to restrict the availability of abortions to locations within 15 miles of a hospital. This is a terrible thing to do to women in impoverished portions of Virginia that are much, much farther from hospitals than that, and often don't have the means of transportation to get to a hospital. Another bill regulates abortion clinics as doctors' offices, such that they must have all of the equipment and meet all of the standards as if they were surgical centers. Even some Republicans -- such Delegate Robert Orrock -- say that bills like these are "gobbledygook."

Then there's Marhsall's new buddy Mark Obenshain. Obenshain was on the Board of Visitors at James Madison University until a few months ago. This spring, Marshall started sending letters to colleges around the state, including JMU, demanding that they stop providing birth control pills in the concentrated form known as "morning after pills."

These emergency contraceptives have the effect of a few birth control pills, and are taken in case pregnancy may occur, as in the case of condom breakage or rape. They are only effective when taken prior to the implantation of a fertilized egg in the wall of the uterus -- that is, prior to pregnancy. They're not abortion pills, and have nothing to do with drugs like RU-486.

Marshall was upset that these were being made available to adults attending colleges in Virginia, because his religion eschews the use of birth control. At most colleges, such as the University of Virginia, Marshall was told to shove it. But not at JMU. Mark Obenshain, a man who has never made any secret about his political aspirations, saw an opening. He planned to run for the State Senate in the November 2003 election, and knew an opportunity when he saw it.

Obenshain persuaded his fellow Board of Visitors members to see things Marshall's way, and they immediately halted the availablility of morning-after pills at JMU. Obenshain argued that not only should JMU not be giving out morning-after pills, but he didn't think that any colleges should be providing birth control of any sort.

This went over like a lead balloon among JMU students. They launched the biggest-ever, fastest-ever petition drive that JMU has ever seen, collecting 2,714 signatures in a single day. Obenshain positively glowed with the success of the move.

In an editorial, the Virginian-Pilot lamented that the Republican Party's goal was a ban of contraceptives. The statement was particularly strong given that they'd come to the opposite conclusion just a few weeks previously, prior to the Marshall Plan going into effect. They even looked at Delegate Marshall's radical Catholic agenda, and concluded that Marshall is as much an extremist as he was when he was first elected a decade ago. Only then he was called an extremist by Republicans. Now, the Virginia Republicans have become so extremely right-wing that he's merely a moderate.

Mark Obenshain's campaign is now fully under way. His website tells us that he wants to "speak out...for the principles of individual liberty and limited constitutional government that are the heart of the greatness of this Commonwealth." Never mind that this is the exact opposite of his beliefs, as demonstrated by his actions.

Virginians with an interest in politics past and present will recognize the name "Obenshain." Mark Obenshain's father was Richard Obenshain, a prominent Republican who helped to rebuild the party and take it back to parity with the Democrats. Just after being nominated for the U.S. Senate, he died in a plane crash, leaving him with martyr-like status among area Republicans. (Incidentally, it was then that John Warner, then husband of Elizabeth Taylor, stepped into the race as the replacement for Obenshain. Warner holds that seat to this day, and some Virginia Republicans are still bitter about that.)

Then there's Mark Obenshain's sister -- Richard Obenshain's daughter -- who has just recently come to prominence. By "just recently" I mean, of course, "today." Kate Obenshain Griffin has been elected the first-ever female chairwoman of the Virginia Republican Party. It's the Republicans' hope that, by appointing a female, they can help people forget the wiretapping scandal that brought down the entirety of the Virginia party leadership over the past few years. Griffin replaces Gary Thompson, who just resigned a month ago after pleading guilty to misdemeanor wiretapping. Griffin's opinions regarding birth control are not known, but her comments regarding her large family in an August 2002 interview, her brother's beliefs, and her party's beliefs make the conclusion an obvious one. Griffin argues that her family has nothing to do with her sudden prominence position within the party:

"It's not about Phil, it's not about my brother, and it's not about my father," she said. "It's about me and my ability to lead the Republican Party."

This new leadership in the Virginia Republican Party is a frightening indicator of what's to come. The Republicans' support for Marshall and Obenshain's anti-birth control stance is likely to go from tacit endorsement to a plank on their platform. With their hold on both the House and the Senate, there is little to stop Republicans from passing any restrictions that they see fit, banning birth control outright in a matter of years or even months.

http://www.waldo.net/news/001549.php

[Heddi]

38. Well it doesn't have to be outlawed

(meaning, the law prohibits the sale, distribution, or possession of BC pills/devices) to be unavailable to women and men who need them.

My Mother in law lives in a very very very very small rural town. Very small. The closest McDonalds is 3 hours away. The town population, on a GOOD day (when everyone's home and relatives are in town) is 210. Two Hundred Ten.

There is one pharmacy in her town. The closest one after that is 3 hours away, where there are 2 pharmacies. The next closest pharms are three hours in the OTHER direction, where there are I think 3 pharms.

So that's 6 pharmacies in a.....few hundred mile swath of land...

She lives in a very rural, "Christian" town. Everyone goes to the same church. All the kids go to one school (Grammar, Middle, and High School are located in one building).

See, the point I'm making is that contraceptional devices and medications need not be OUTLAWED to have them made inaccessable to women should they live in a town like my mother in law lives in.

What if the ONLY pharmacist within 3 hours travel decides it's against his religious beliefs to dispense BC Pills or to sell condoms? What is a young woman or man to do at that point? Is it always feasable that one can drive three hours either north or three hours south to find available contraception?

What if the two pharmacists to the north don't believe in Birth Control either? Is the person in need supposed to drive an additional six hours SOUTH to hope that one of the three pharmacists in THAT town will dispense BC pills, or sell condoms?

See---again, it need not be OUTLAWED to be unavailble. And making it unavailable, especially in remote rural places (of which there are many in this large country of ours) is EXACTLY SIMILAR to outlawing it. If you can't get it, you can't get it, regardless of whether the government is preventing you from getting it, or whether pharmacists who believe they are on the side of righteousness prevent you from obtaining it, or make obtaining it either impossible or outlandishly impractical to get?(How can a 14 year old who is sexually active drive around a state to get BC pills? How is a 24-year-old who's looking for some rubbers b/c there's about to be some fucking in the next few minutes be expected to 'put off' the inevetable and drive three hours to get condoms?)

As someone else in this thread stated, I wonder if these pharmacists have the same need to with-hold dispensing Viagra? How about medications commonly used to treat Sexually Transmitted Diseases (Remember: If you and your spouse are virgins on your wedding night, you can't get an STD. If you have an STD, it's because you're a promiscious whore who deserved to get it.) What about medications for AIDS? I know for a FACT that there are people in this world who KNOW FOR A FACT (in their own mind, at least) that the only people who get AIDS are homosexuals. If one is so devoutly religious that they find dispensing BC abbhorent, then certainly they would have no interest in providing other "less desirable" medications to people who need them.

And these pharmacists should understand that medication is between a WOMAN AND HER DOCTOR.

Birth Control pills are NOT ONLY USED FOR PREVENTING PREGNANCY. They're used to control acne. They're used to regulate irregular menstrual periods. THey're used to lighten heavy menstrual periods. They're not just used for BIRTH CONTROL.

If a doctor has examined a woman and feels that for WHATEVER REASON, she has a need for Ortho-Tricyclen or Orthonovum 777 or whatever, then that is the DOCTORS DECISION TO MAKE. Not the Pharmacists decision. Not the Manager of Rite-Aid. Not the woman who works at Rite-Aid. Not the minister of the local church. Not the neighbor down the street. Not the mailman. THe DOCTOR'S DECISION and the WOMAN'S DECISION.

So no, I won't 'Relax'. One Dumb-ass clerk doesn't make national law, but it sure as FUCK has the ability to make a woman's life, and the life of her husband, her boyfriend, her parents, her children, WHOMEVER's life a bit more fucking difficult, you know....

[Ilsa]

39. Hopefully, the doctor's office will dispense some samples

to hold them over until they can go out of town. Meanwhile, patients need to let pharmacies know that they won't be delivering ANY of their pharm business to the local nazis pharmacy.

Doctors need to go to war with the pharmacists over this bullshit.

[Heddi]

42. Hopefully they will

but alot of places don't even have Planned Parenthood or other clinics like that--places that stock BC in-house, with no pharm visit necessary.

However, with BC pills, one must keep taking them RELIGIOUSLY (no pun intended) in order for them to be effective. A sample just won't do it.

The doctors need to not give out samples, but give the WHOLE kit and kaboodle at the office visit---but working in the Medical Field, many doctors don't like keeping ANY meds at their offices---it increases the risk for break-ins, and they just don't like having to deal with the hassle----it's hard enough to get your Dr. to spend more than 4 minutes with you at any given time to begin with, and it's going to be a really big challenge to ask..no, persuade doctors in rural areas like this to stockpile condoms/bc pills, etc.

Where my MIL lives---her neighbor is a nurse, and I was talking to her about diaphragms, and her office (which is the only dr's office in, yeah, three hours drive) doesn't even STOCK diaphragms, and they have to order them (as well as IUD's, depo, and cervical caps) if a woman wants one. Her reasoning---"women out here like having babies. They don't ask for that stuff so much"---well DUH! If one has to wait a week...three weeks...a month to get a fucking DIAPHRAGM..?!?!?!?

I think alot of people (not you, but people in general) don't put alot of stock in the reality that exists in rural America. It's sparse, remote, and many people don't have access to alternative pharmacies should theirs house a pharmacist who doesn't like dispensing certain meds.

Many people don't have access to Planned Parenthoods (there's none in the state of South Carolina ((or at least none in CHarleston, the largest city in the state))), or other clinics that specialize in family planning.

Many people live in areas where their GP is their OBGYN and their Cardiologist and their Radiologist. There's only one, maybe 2 doctors in the town (if any at all). What if your Dr doesn't keep contraceptives on hand? There's ANOTHER burden--not just driving three hours to get the Rx filled, but another wait for alternative, non-pill forms of BC.

Many people have no OPTION to take their pharm business elsewhere. There is ONLY one pharmacy. That's it. THe Pharmacy is also located in the ONLY drugstore and the ONLY post office and the ONLY bank and the ONLY grocery store. Not everyone can load up the Suburban with dry-ice and a few coolers to do grocery shopping three hours away. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to AFFORD driving a distance to get BASIC MEDICAL NEEDS MET>

And that's what this whole issue is about. It's not JUST about people who take their REligious Dogma too far and neglect the health and wellbeing of patients who have legally obtained Rx's for legally available medicine.

The REAL issue is whether the pharmacists, in their desire to keep themselves holy (by making women's lives, and the lives of those around them, insufferable), they aren't just keeping women's reproductive choices at bay...they're keeping MEDICAL NEEDS at bay. They're negligent in their duties as a pharmacist.

It's one thing for a pharm to see 2 rx's that aren't compatable, and to call the prescribing Dr to ask for clarification, since med X + med Y causes stroke, or something.

IT's another thing ENTIRELY to ASSUME the position of the Doctor, to ASSUME the position of moral leader, to ASSUME that what choices the woman (and possibly her husband/boyfriend/parents/friends/self) and her Doctor have decided are WRONG, ERRONEOUS, and UNNCESSARY.

THese Pharmacists are not God. If they feel that BC pills and devices are "unholy" or that they go against the teachings of God, then they should LEAVE THAT TO THE WOMAN AND GOD----much like they should leave medical decisons to THE DOCTOR AND THE WOMAN....

<end rant>

[Ilsa]

47. Actually, a "sample" can easily include two or three months

or packets of pills. It's not like they are handed out as a partial prescription since the doses change every week. But a doctor's office has to ask for them and keep them in stock, and we know that isn't a reliable scenario, just a hope and a prayer to help a few women out. The pharmacists are shifting the effort for marketing the pills back to the pharm sales reps and into the doctors' offices.

ITA that many have few options if any for a pharmacist. I don't disagree with anything you've said. The industry should consider the worst case scenario with respect to access, IMO.

Another thing that is hypocritical with respect to pharmacists is the singling out of this issue versus other medications that have serious side effects. For example, what if you need a narcotic for pain relief, but the pharmacists thinks they have the right to question you about your condition to determine whether it is serious enough to warrant pain relief.

[American Renaissance]

7. I don't believe in my job!

If they don't believe in distributing perscription drugs, find another fucking line of work.

I think these guys must go into this on purpose to push their agenda.

But then again, why do pro-lifers have a problem with Birth Control in the first place?, birth control after all prevents millions of abortions.

[noonwitch]

10. Most don't, if the person using it is married

Catholic pro-lifers likely have a problem with birth control, but Protestants generally don't. They have a big problem with sex between anyone who isn't a married hetero couple, however.

I had a catholic boyfriend once who wouldn't use condoms, because he said it was a sin. I told him the premarital sex was the sin and the condom was just a sin by association. He said it was okay if I used the pill, because it didn't involve him. I told him if he wanted to be sinless by the church's standards, to give up sex until he was married, otherwise, this is the day of AIDS and without a condom, he's not getting any from me.

[fudge stripe cookays]

21. Good for you!

He sounds like a right selfish asshole.

[sybylla]

8. Totally idiotic

My dem governor just vetoed a "conscience clause" bill in Wisconsin, or I'd be looking at the same shit here. The really stupid part is that, like many prescriptions, the pill is used to assist with a variety of complaints, not just birth control. So now their ignorant ideology is effecting the health of thousands of women beyond the decisions that they make about birth control.

It's my body, my doctor, my personal health decision. Pharmacists must butt out or get out.

[Interrobang]

19. "Conscience laws" yeah

Atrios over at Eschaton had one the other day about a similar bill in Michigan. Any doctor in Sarnia or Windsor could be doing a booming business in "international prescription conversion," I think.

[Pattib]

41. I don't know what my 17 yr. old would do without the BC pill.

Ever since she started her period at age 13 she had a tough time of it. Bad cramps that kept her in bed for a few days every month.

Things proceeded to get worse. At age 15 she had her first ovarian cyst.
Dr. put her on BC pills for a few months to shrink the cyst. It worked. A few months later we were back at the doctors with another cyst.

Now she is taking birth control pills for 4 months with a one month break and then back on again. The only other alternative would be surgery, which would have to be repeated to remove each subsequent cyst.
I am so grateful we have this option.

[demnan]

9. You gonna tell all these women (and men) that?

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/images/I42284-2004Apr25

[YellowRubberDuckie]

12. why do people keep saying 800,000?

On Sunday, as I watched LIVe, someone said over 1.3 MILLION people!
Why are they grossly underestimating our numbers!? :grr:
Duckie

[Scottie72]

13. This conscience clause scares the crap out of me

This is very scary folks, very scary indeed. Lets say my BF and I enter a restaurant for a meal. A waitress or the manager comes up and says to us. I am sorry we are unable to serve you two tonight because it we think being gay is immoral. (I am talking about a dinner at a really nice establishment... a place where two guys dressed up would normally go)

Two guys or Two women walk into an apartment complex and ask for one bedroom apartment.. I am sorry we cannot rent to you.. We feel the "homosexual lifestyle" is immoral.

Denying BC just because one feels it is wrong is just plain wrong.

This is scary.. people will be allowed to discriminate against basically anything they think is wrong.

[salvorhardin]

15. This pretty much happened to me

Two guys or Two women walk into an apartment complex and ask for one bedroom apartment.. I am sorry we cannot rent to you.. We feel the "homosexual lifestyle" is immoral.

About 15 years ago a male friend and I went to rent an apartment in a small upstate NY city. The apartment complex manager actually said to us, "You're not together are you?" I don't think she could have denied us the apartment if we had answered yes since the complex received Section 8 housing funds but it also had a very elaborate application (because it received Section 8 housing funds, income needed to be verified). Since she made the decisions on who the complex rented to, I'm sure she could have found *some* reason to deny us.

[2Design]

31. one of our Va senators while he was governor did not allow

unmarried people to buy a house together. He made sure they could not get loans........

[Mr. Blonde]

16. Wasn't Daddy Bush

in favor of birth control before he was president? I seem to remember watching something in high school with him in it and he seemed to be in favor of them. I could be wrong though.

[fudge stripe cookays]

22. Yep. He joined up with Reagan...

and that's when he switched. Evodently, he USED to be so pro-choice, his colleagues in government used to call him "Rubbers."

According to Gloria Feldt, Barbara, Laura, Colin and Condi are also "pro-choice" in theory. But when money and power are involved, that seems to fly out the window.

[tigereye]

25. the last choice march I went to was when Bush 1 was in office

don't remember the year. We were standing in front of the White House, and Barbara Bush was outside with her dog. We took that as support... I don't know if that was her intent, but that's how we took it! I always wondered about that. I remember people yelling "Is Millie pro-choice?" ( I think that was the name of the Bush 1 dog.)

[fudge stripe cookays]

27. 92.

Hillary mentioned that the last time we'd had to do this was 92-- and several months later, her husband was elected.

From her mouth to God's ears.

[tigereye]

28. I thought it was 92

couldn't go to the one two days ago, but it looked much bigger than the 92 one, and that was really big. That is why getting Kerry elected is so important. It infuriates me when people say there is no difference between * and Kerry, when the ramifications of a continued * presidency are staring them in the face!

[geniph]

18. Thankfully, I had a tubal many years ago

but I feel sorry for the young women living in this bizarre Handmaid's Tale that the crypto-fascists seem to be trying to bring about.

You know, I hate supporting end users when they manage to infect their machines with viruses by clicking on email attachments - can I get some kind of conscience clause in my job description that it's morally offensive to me to have to clean the machines of 'morans'? Must be nice, to pick and choose which parts of your job you feel like doing.

[Deja Q]

30. Then she doesn't need to buy it. How dare she impose her will on others?!

That is fascism, though on a vigilante level.

Perhaps we need to be vigilante in return? Speak to the manager, organize boycotts, work on a local level to shut the bastards down.

If this pharmie doesn't dig birth control, then she doesn't need to buy it. But it's wrong for her to go farther.

If I was treated like that, you can bet your sweet bippy I'd retaliate via every legal means necessary. (so expect organizing against corporations/companies to become a felony if right wingers and many moderates/DINOs have their way. )

[fudge stripe cookays]

35. We're already doing that down here...

since 2 of these incidents have been in/near the Dallas Metroplex, and we're already educating ourselves.

These have occurred at Eckerd and CVS. CVS is in the process of buying Eckerd from JCPenney. Don't shop at either, and write them letters telling them why.

At Eckerd in Denton, the guilty pharmacists were fired. I don't know the outcome of the N. Richland Hills case yet. If these people in hiring positions don't clarify their pharmacists' moral willingness to dispense birth control before hiring them, they need to know that those of us with brains and principles will not keep them in business.

[gmoney]

37. When did this country become an Islamist nation?

I swear... two hundred years ago, they were smart enough to separate church and state, now the church is taking over again, and worse yet, the fundamentalists.

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose... money, rights, hope... all gone.

[Ilsa]

40. If women have to say "goodbye" to birth control, then men

need to say "goodbye" to frequent sex. Explain to them that they'll be on the rhythm method until they help the damn pharmacists figure this shit out.

[Heddi]

43. Rhythm Method...

Rhythm method works, well, until it doesn't. And when it doesn't work, there's a whole mess coming down the line.

I wonder if the pharms. who are against dispensing BC would rather that there be a rash of women who are pregnant whose bodies can't take it. Like women with Breast Cancer? Like women with Diabetes. Women with hereditary birth defects that would give any child she conceives a 75% chance of being born with a birth defect that (if the child lives out of utero) would only live a few moments?

I wonder if the pharms who are against dispensing BC revel in the idea of poor people having babies they can't afford? If they cherish the fact that maybe Dad just got laid off from work...that doesn't mean he shouldn't get laid...it just means that they can't afford to feed another belly until something comes down the pike (job-wise, that is).

BC isn't just for single co-eds out having wild wonton sex with whatever has a slot or a dick.

Married people are on BC. I'm married. I Get depo every 3 months. Have been on the pill since I was 16, although I was a virgin until I was 18. Been on depo for the past...oh, 5 years or so.

So see, just because you're married doesn't mean you can, or want to, or need to, or can afford to have kids.

They (meaning you-know-who) HATE abortion.....but then they do EVERYTHING possible to ENSURE that abortion rates will RISE---

* Abstinence only education
* Forcing states to have budget shortfalls, which in turn causes state and county-run "free clinics" to close, or drastically reduce services (services which include STD testing, OB testing, family planning svcs)
* ALLOWING pharms. to be derelict in duty by refusing to dispense BC pills...

what next? Women will be forced to have sex every day, several times a day GUARANTEEING pregnancy? No breast feeding after child is born so that you can start trying to get a bun in the oven as soon as possible after you pop the first one out?

This is insane. THese pharms. should be..>I don't know....forced to be reborn as a poor woman who is unable to get BC pills, unable to get an abortion, and unable to afford a child....see how they fucking like it

[Triple H]

45. First...it's refusing to fill birth control...

what's next? Refusing to fill heart medications because you believe your god Nicolae (fictional) doesn't believe in heart medication?????? When will these damn republican sons of bitches learn that they cannot tamper with a person's right to prescription drugs (or anyone's rights for that matter)??????

This pisses me off. :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

Keep your damn religion out of the workplace and out of other people's lives!

[RPM]

46. Boycott CVS

Their stores always seem to be understaffed and the staff that is there sucks. Won't miss shopping there.