A way to change the debate on pharmcists and the Pill (Rant)

[VTMechEngr]

I hear these stories about pharmacists refusing to give out The Morning After Pill because they think it causes Abortion. I think they should be removed from their jobs, but not the the reason of refusing to do it. I think they are unqualified to be a pharmacist.

The medical definition of Pregnancy is when the fertilized egg implants in to the uterus. Before that, the Body doesn't know its pregnant. It can't! Hence, NO PREGNANCY. Now, Abortion is defined in all dictionaries in the world except the one in the Hampton Roads sanitarium where Pat Robertson did his last "I hate judges" speech, as the termination of an established pregnancy. I Have not found one to say the prevention of an egg to implant and make someone pregnant. In Fact, I only found that under birth control, How ODD! So My screaming Rant is This:

HOW CAN IT BE ABORTION IF THEY ARE NOT PREGNANT!!!!!!

Which leads me back to my original comment on unqualified pharmacists. If a Pharmacist does not know and understand the medical definition of pregnancy, how can they be certified and considered competent in their field. These people are Dangerous. They should be fired for being unqualified for the position or At least deemed incompetent to dispense medicines.

We need a change on this theme. They are not fundie zealots, They are poorly educated and Dangerous pharmacists who should be called out in the news as such, Libel suits be damned!.

The new Democratic Meme should be: we need proper qualified pharmacists who we can trust to understand the medicines they are dispensing.

[CottonBear]

1. Excellent point.

BTW, the guy who has been nominated to be the head of the FDA is a total RW Republican shill. I know for a fact that he was able to obtain a PhD in Pharmacy from UGA without taking ANY gradaute level biochemistry courses. My info is from a former faculty member at UGA who was there when Lester worked at the School of Veterinary Medicine in between working in government positions for Republican administrations.

[FloridaPat]

2. Nice writing. Thanks

[Lugnut]

3. Prescriptions are written by physicians or

Other persons who are licensed by states to write prescriptions. If a pharmacist refuses to fill said prescription they are in effect practicing medicine which is an activity they are not licensed to do.

This is my take on the activity but I don't know if a complaint could be filed with the state's licensing board or not.

[KaliTracy]

4. Good point, yet, Reproductive Freedom is Sliding Backward, and it

IS because of "belief" systems and it IS taking us backward. It's also NOT just the morning after pill -- for those pharmacists who have refused, it has been typical, regular hormones. So, while I agree that technically you are right -- it doesn't matter to those who believe only in the rhythm method.

From Prevention Magazine, last July:
Find out why growing numbers of doctors and pharmacists across the US are refusing to prescribe or dispense birth control pills
by Caroline Bollinger

Intro
In April, Julee Lacey, 33, a Fort Worth, TX, mother of two, went to her local CVS drugstore for a last-minute Pill refill. She had been getting her prescription filled there for a year, so she was astonished when the pharmacist told her, "I personally don't believe in birth control and therefore I'm not going to fill your prescription." Lacey, an elementary school teacher, was shocked. "The pharmacist had no idea why I was even taking the Pill. I might have needed it for a medical condition."

Melissa Kelley, 35, was just as stunned when her gynecologist told her she would not renew her prescription for birth control pills last fall.

"She told me she couldn't in good faith prescribe the Pill anymore," says Kelley, who lives with her husband and son in Allentown, PA. Then the gynecologist told Kelley she wouldn't be able to get a new prescription from her family doctor, either. "She said my primary care physician was the one who helped her make the decision." Lacey's pharmacist and Kelley's doctors are among hundreds, perhaps thousands, of physicians and pharmacists who now adhere to a controversial belief that birth control pills and other forms of hormonal contraception--including the skin patch, the vaginal ring, and progesterone injections--cause tens of thousands of "silent" abortions every year. Consequently, they are refusing to prescribe or dispense them.

Scenarios like these--virtually unheard of 10 years ago--are happening with increasing frequency. However, until this spring, the issue received little attention outside the antiabortion community. It wasn't high on the agendas of reproductive rights advocates, who have been preoccupied with defending abortion rights and emergency contraception. But when Lacey's story was picked up by a Texas TV station and later made the national news, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and others took notice.

<snip> more -- much more
http://www.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s1-1-93-35-4130-1-P,00.html

***
For me -- this is about Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Freedom. A Pharmacist is NOT a doctor, and has no right usurping a doctor's orders. Whether or not a woman is married and on the pill shouldn't matter -- whether or not a woman is using the pill for birth control, or for hormonal regulation (to stop excessive bleeding, etc.) or to get rid of ovarian cysts shouldn't matter. This violates a privacy between a woman and her doctor and gives the pharmacist more power than the doctor (and that is WRONG). If a pharmacist doesn't "believe" in such contraception, he/she should merely not fill the prescription (by giving it to another pharmacist to fill) and consider getting another job.

I wrote a lengthy response to NARAL petition being passed around for legislation in Ohio that will outlaw all Abortion. In it I mentioned the reactionary pharmacists. Here is my last paragraph, and where I feel at least some of the message should stay (reproductive rights):
**

... Abortion should stay rare, safe, and legal. Other reproductive choices, such as IUDs, sterilization, hormones, etc. should stay available for all women, regardless of their income level. I will not be treated as if someone who happens to pass laws knows "more" than what my, or any other woman's circumstances are in making personal reproductive choices. I will not be treated as if someone who dispenses medication knows “more” than my own personal physician. I will fight for women's reproductive rights, because Government, State or Federal, should not be involved in this matter AT ALL.

---
edit:clarity

[omega minimo]

5. Change the debate to Pharmacists and Viagra

:evilgrin:

[KaliTracy]

6. ah, but men have always been able to "snip" themselves, without

RWingers petitioning their urologist's office. So, why would they have any problem with them taking Viagra -- didn't Dole do a commercial for it?

[omega minimo]

7. A little absurdity never hurt anyone

but a whole lot of insane, dangerous, control freak domination of women DOES!

IMHO these are control issues, keepin wimmins in their place, and common sense does not have a lot to do with the abusers' positions. Applying consistency to the position of ANY professional arbitrarily saying what they will not serve/support on MORAL grounds is not allowed (by the bigots). Only blockades of women's health clinics is allowed; only disruption of women's lives and privacy is condoned in medical situations; only women's bodies are considered fair game by fanatics for invasive and dangerous BUSYBODINESS.

:hi:

[Gin]

8. since the only way to get the pill is by prescription....it should be

against the law to refuse to fill it....otherwise...I say...all pharmacists are not ignorant....find one who will work with you while this situation heats up...then gets resolved..let your displeasure be known to the organizations who refuse to fill these prescriptions...and if possible take your dollars elsewhere. (IMHO)

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

9. It's the New Religious Intolerance

The Pill has been around for over forty years and I do not recall these sorts of issues until just recently.

I see many related issues all coming together under this common theme of New Religious Intolerance : The casting out of the Democrats from the Baptist Church in North Carolina, these pharmacy and birth control issues, Creationism in the schools, Bill Frist on Judgement Sunday,and finally Cheyney referring to Dems as "the Other Faith".

It is a concerted effort to literally define Dems, or secularists, or anyone who believes that religion can be private, as the "Other"

It's interesting because it involves the activism of more than one sect: fundies, Catholics, and Baptists, under the sheltering umbrella of "Christian". The larger effort is to make "Christian" synonymous with "Republican". This is what the pastor in North Carolina was trying to do so overtly. I'm sure they're all mad at him for tipping the game prematurely.

[Lars39]

10. Agreed!

:thumbsup:

[StephanieMarie]

11. Democrats need to use the phrase, "Activist Pharmacists"