Has Wal-Mart Really Ended One of its Most Sexist Practices?

[ProgressiveAmPatriot]

Link to Original: http://progressiveamericanpatriot.blogspot.com/2007/04/planned-parenthood-reports-wal-mart.html

Planned Parenthood Reports Wal-Mart Policy Shift on Emergency Contraception, but has Wal-Mart Really Ended One of its Most Sexist Practices?
By a progressive American patriot at the http://progressiveamericanpatriot.blogspot.com">Progressive American Patriot blog

Yesterday Planned Parenthood seems to have scored a major victory for reproductive freedom and women’s health. According to the Planned Parenthood http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-issues/walmart-policy-13564.htm">press release Wal-Mart has agreed to reverse “its nationwide corporate policy with regard to emergency contraception,” and that “The new Wal-Mart policy ensures customers ‘will now receive their prescriptions or products in store without discrimination (no harassment or lectures),’ ‘without delay,’ and ‘without judgment,’ according to the Planned Parenthood survey that Wal-Mart returned to today."

When Wal-Mart originally announced early this year that it would carry what is commonly known as the morning-after-pill they http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/04/business/04walmart.html?ex=1299128400&en=b158daff0f753b11&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">said that pharmacists who object to filling such prescriptions would be allowed to “refer customers to another pharmacist and, in some cases, to another pharmacy.” This policy drew consternation from groups which understand the vital importance of reproductive freedom and the threat such a policy clearly poses to access to emergency contraception. Particularly in rural areas, where there may be no other pharmacy in the area, this restricts women’s control over their health and well being. In lending its support to Planned Parenthood today the American Civil Liberties Union clearly articulated what pharmacy policy should be:

“Pharmacies should honor individual pharmacists’ religious beliefs whenever possible; however, the patient’s right to have a valid request for medication satisfied should always come first. Because women are the sole users of birth control pills, refusals to fill these valid prescriptions are tantamount to sex discrimination.”

According to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, Wal-Mart seems to have adopted such a policy. However, Wal-Mart has previously shown serious contempt towards reproductive freedoms, and thus women’s health. When Wal-Mart wrote that customers “will now receive their prescriptions or products in store without discrimination (no harassment or lectures),” “without delay,” and “without judgment,” they may not have understood what this meant. They certainly would not acknowledge that their previous policy amounted to sex discrimination. News organizations which pride themselves on quick investigative journalism should have immediately followed up on this story to confirm that Wal-Mart has indeed shifted away from its earlier policy of sex discrimination (at least in this particular case).

Over 24 hours after the Planned Parenthood announcement, a general Google search and a Google news search turn up nothing from any of the major media outlets. Looking through the websites of Fox, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, the Washington Post, and the New York Times I can mind no mention of Wal-Mart’s supposed new policy. If Wal-Mart really did change their policy, it is headline news. It would mean that even Wal-Mart, the poster child of socially irresponsible corporations, acknowledges that corporations have no right to interfere with women’s health decisions and reproductive freedom. This, however, is a big if.

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