June 21, 2008
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Pro-Life Drugstores
“Pro-Life” drugstores have been popping up across the country.
The “pro-life” drugstores do not carry certain contraceptives. Some do not carry birth control or Plan B and some do not even carry condoms.
Pharmacist have been running into conflict with pharmacies over the filling of prescriptions like Plan B. So some of them have opened up pharmacies where they can stock whatever items they want. Here is the link: Link
Do you think a pharmacy should be able to refuse to carry certain items?
Comments (141)
If it’s a private business, yes. I just find it distasteful that they are judging people by their medications with no knowledge whatsoever of their medical history.
I’m not sure, although I don’t agree. I’m pro-life but I don’t consider Plan B aborting a kid, so I think that is completely stupid they don’t carry it.
Well, of course. If they don’t care about that type of profit, I praise them for standing up to it even at the lose of money. That takes conviction standing up for something even when it means not getting extra revenue. There is always someone out there with no morals that will sell ANYTHING for profit.
Dear Dan,
I wouldn’t expect to buy contraceptives at a drug store advertised as “pro life”. Out here in SoCal there is a CVS or Walgreens on almost every streetcorner. (The other streetcorners have gas stations selling $4.65 a gallon regular unleaded.) So there are no shortages of condoms.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
Private businesses have every right to refuse to carry whatever they want. Personally though, I think the refusal to sell condoms is a bit excessive.
I’ve never heard of Plan B so I really don’t even know what it is, but if some pharmacists are against it, there must be something wrong with it in a pro life aspect.
If it is a privately owned pharmacy they can choose what products they wish to sell or not to sell.
If you work at a pharmacy that carries those items then it is your job to sell them,if you do not like it than you need to get a job that better suits your moral conviction.
Why is this so hotly debated? If Muslims can refuse to sell alcohol what’s the big deal with Christians refusing to sell contraceptives?
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Plan B is the morning-after pill, I believe. The implication is that it is “not the first plan” for birth control.
It is a private business and It is their right to carry what they choose. Just as it is the consumers right to choose where he or she will spend their money.
They have the right to carry whatever they want to carry or rather, not carry what they don’t want to carry.
Of course not, freedom is such a bad thing. To allow a private company and it owners, to follow their own personal morality would be horrible and wrong.
sarcasm
@seedsower - Yeah, exactly what you said!
That’s how it works here in Canada. However, if a pharmacy does refuse to carry Plan B (or as it is called here, the “morning-after” pill) then they are required to post a sign noting the nearest location where it is available.
A good compromise, I think.
Dan, since you are voting for Obama, I thought you might like to meet some of your fellow Obama supporters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8SVSmkc7Kw
Yeah… it’s their store… let them carry what they want.
@moritheil - I see, well just common sense tells me if you take it AFTER sex, if you had conceived, if you conceived, you are aborting a baby. A baby starts being alive at conception, no other way around it. Well, I’m against plan B then. Thanks for letting me know what it is. I see why pro life would refuse to sell it. GREAT FOR THEM. Someone needs to take a stand against the insanity. Oh yes, save the trees and all animal, but kill babies whenever we want to. Just discusting!
@mkenyon719 - If it’s a pill taking AFTER sex and a baby was conceived, it would be aborting a baby. Common sense tells me this.
If the owner of the store doesn’t want to carry something, that’s his right. That’s why we live in a consumer-driven society, so we can shop where we want, spend what we want, and have choices. Just like it’s the store-owner’s right to sell pornographic magazines or not, it’s his right to decide whether to sell abortifacients.
@trunthepaige - Gotta love sarcasm
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Just guessing at the rationale behind the name, which you asked for. Take it with a grain of salt because I’m not absolutely sure (I don’t work in pharmacy.)
@moritheil - Oh, sorry, I wasn’t trying to start anything. I was just thinking out loud, I do that on here a lot.
Oooh… At first I thought, “Sure, as long as they clearly advertise themselves as such so people are aware..” But then you could qui9ckly run into the problem of ALL the pharms in an area being like this, and that would not be good.
If there could be a guarantee that at least 1 pharmacy in a certain designated area would carry those items, then I guess that’s ok. But there needs to be a place people can go to to get condoms and birth control.
um, no. if a pharmacist can’t handle giving out contraceptives–AKA, part of their job– then they shouldn’t be a pharmacist.
Absolutely. I would have a big problem with the government telling a pharmacy owner that he has to fill a prescription that completely goes against his conscience. If it bugs a customer, they can find a different pharmacy. . .that’s the beauty of a free market.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Plan B is basically the same as a birth control pill, just a larger dose. It works in the same exact way that the pill does, in that it delays/stops ovulation, and yes, also can discourage implantation. I understand the idea of life starting at conception, but keep in mind that it’s estimated that as many as 75% of concieved embrios never implant.
Sure, as long as pro lifers are free to allow God to give them cancer.
It is His will you know… garsh He shore is mysterious!
Of course were I a pharmacy owner we would not stock HIV medications. People with AIDS give other people AIDS so the sooner they die the sooner we have less AIDS.
Simple math you know.
Well, yea. Whoever runs the store decides what’s in it. Not having certain items may be inconvenient for the customer, but it also put’s the business at a disadvantage by losing that customer’s money.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Yes, I reread your post and realized that
Please keep thinking out loud!
@GhostBenjimon - I agree Ghostman, why should we gladly acept the good things God gives us in life and scoff at the rotten things. Mysterious indeed! And yes, I know you are being sarcastic
@moritheil -
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Plan B usually happens the next day and an egg is not a living, breathing, fetus yet.
@GhostBenjimon - Man, who KNOWS what goes on in that brain of your Ghostman, I’m sure it’s a scarey place!
There is nothing “anti-life” about birth control. I can understand certain people’s opposition to abortion, but birth control is not the same thing! These people are causing ten times more harm then any good they believe they are doing.
its their own business, they should be free to sell whatever they want! Heck if they wanna sell slusheees, go ahead
If Wal-Mart can refuse to carry CDs it deems unfit for public consumption, then I don’t see why pharmacists can’t decide to not carry contraceptives.
But I’ll add that condoms don’t abort anything, and I am very pro-contraceptive. Plan B does not prevent conception, and is therefore not a real contraceptive. I’d love to add further that Plan B became a prescription-free drug under the jurisdiction of THIS administration….
Funny how the most staunch pro-lifers still wanna marry George W. Bush… =:p I guess love is blind.
If its a private pharmacy then it’s their choice but I wish they would realize that there are more reasons to use birth control than for the titled need. I remember a girl at church camp was on it for medical reasons (and it wasn’t a lie she has some major health problems died a few years later actually) and had hands laid on her for her sinful ways when it was discovered.Ignorance is what makes Christians and conservatives look bad and embarrases me as a believer.
@mkenyon719 - If you say so, but to me, a baby starts as soon as it’s conceived and I’d say it starts when the sperm gets to the egg and thats pretty much right after the sex. At least in the movie “Look Who’s Talking” thats how it appears and Hollywood wouldn’t lie. ***more sarcasm***
Of course they do. Any other store is allowed to make choices on the merchandise they carry and even doctors can choose what they do and don’t offer their patients.
@loveandpolitics - I don’t have a problem with birth control, from what I know of it, taking a pill before sex never lets conception take place, taking it AFTER the sex, tells me it’s going to kill what was conceived, if a baby was conceived. But it’s just another way we as humans try to justify what we do when it’s something that might inconvience us.
@mkenyon719 - Once the sperm reaches the egg, it starts developing the egg into a baby. So life would have to start immediately at that point of contact.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Contraception has no effect at all if conception has already taken place, so it does not constitute abortion in any way, and that includes the morning after pill.
Critics also worry that women might unsuspectingly seek contraceptives at such a store and be humiliated, or that women needing the morning-after pill, which is most effective when used quickly, may waste precious time.
“Rape victims could end up in a pharmacy not understanding this pharmacy will not meet their needs,” Greenberger said. “We’ve seen an alarming development of pharmacists over the last several years refusing to fill prescriptions, and sometimes even taking the prescription from the woman and refusing to give it back to her so she can fill it in another pharmacy.”
Now that is simply not ethical at all.
yes. I think they should be allowed to.
@mightymarce - I really don’t know about all the medical stuff here. I use common sense when dealing with stuff like this. If someone wasn’t a the pill and takes a pill AFTER they have sex, if there WAS conception, it would kill that conceived child. My understanding is that taking the pill when you are supposed to keeps conception from ever happening. So in my mind it isn’t abortion. Unless there is proof that even taking a pill doesn’t stop conception but just kills the baby as soon as it is conceived because maybe it denies it what it needs to live. I don’t know, I’m thinking out loud again.
I understand why they wouldn’t carry “plan b”, but women use the pill for other things then just birth control. But then again, it’s really up to the owner to do what they want to do.
@loveandpolitics - So you are saying that you don’t think conception starts right then at the time of sex, the sperm just wonders not knowing where to go for hours….get real, it knows RIGHT where to go and finds it’s target, if there is an egg there that can be fertilized. So the morning after pill, if a baby was conceived, would be abortion, no other way around it. Sorry, nice try
There are tons of huge name pharmacies everywhere, CVS, Walgreen’s, Walmart, Meijer, Eckerd….I’m sure the mom and pop stores won’t put them out of business, and the bigger stores won’t become pro-life stores. I live in a small rural town, and we have three mom and pop pharmacies here that are usually adequate. But there are Walmarts, CVS, everything else, within 10-30 minutes, and anything can be ordered and delivered. No one stays put in a rural farming town. We’re always traveling to the bigger towns and cities for shopping, medical care, education, whatever, or know someone who’s going on any given day.
Do we look at abortion drugs as “medically necessary” or a matter of personal choice and convenience?
Birth control is another matter. Of course it should be available, as there are other uses, such as preventing infections, regulating women’s cycles, etc…. Realize this particular store mentioned is adhering to Roman Catholic beliefs. There are lots of other places to go instead, if you need something not offered there.
Just because a pharmacist is a health-care professional does not mean he is required to participate in “health care” that goes against his beliefs, just as doctors and nurses are not required to participate in procedures, such as abortions, that go against their moral code.
If it’s a private business, it’s okay, but if it’s a place like CVS or Walgreens, then no. I doubt that they would even do anything like that, because they would have to sell drugs that may be against someone’s moral convictions.
I have the personal belief that you have to be very liberal to be in a medical field. You avoid cases like this one then. I just don’t think doctors or pharmacists should stop anyone doing what they want with their bodies.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Yes. That is exactly what happens. Conception takes several hours, often several days after sexual intercourse. If conception has taken place, emergency contraception is useless.
If it’s his store, he can pick and choose whatever he wants to sell.
I just find it silly that pro-lifers fight so adamantly for something they can’t control. A woman who doesn’t want a baby will have an abortion regardless of whether or not Plan B is available to her. They’ll just get an abortion some other way. It’s not like she’ll throw her hands up in the air and say, “Damn, no Plan B at this store. Looks like I’m going to have to pop this little snot rag out of my cooch and hurl him into a dumpster somewhere.”
Why all the talk about “private” business? Do we get to say what any store can or cannot carry? Of course we do, and that’s by where we shop and what we buy. It doesn’t matter if it’s contraceptives or milk. This isn’t about what I believe on Pro Life or not. It’s about freedom to run my business and you to run yours. Right? Here’s the deal: I don’t want the government to tell me I have to sell or not sell certain things, so why would I want to support telling these drugstores what they have to do?
Privatly owned ones should be able to carry what they want, but if they are part of a bigger corporation, or affiliated with a hospital, they should carry what ever the standard is. I had a hormonal problem some years ago, and the ambulance took me to the nearest hospital to where I was( which is a very good hospital, I had been there on a number of occasions),It was a part of the Catholic church.The doctor who treated me there, knew that the hormones in “birth control” pills could fix my situation, had to get some kind of special permission to prescribe me the pills.
Absolutely! Freedom to DO certain things also gives us the freedom to NOT do certain things, like selling this stuff.
Besides, birth control fails. Abstinence doesn’t.
@JessicaAshley7 - The sperm takes a good deal of time to reach the egg. It doesn’t have a teleporter!
@loveandpolitics - Thats a new one on me! Not sure I believe it, but you go ahead and believe it, it’s your right.
yup.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Ok, if you’re going to go on and make big arguments about this, then at least get your facts straight. “Common sense: only gets you so far, and only once you have a basic understanding of what you’re talking about. This is how it works:
Women have a menstrual cycle, that on average (but this varies from woman to woman) lasts about 28 days. Many women (again, this varies A LOT) ovulate around day 14 of that cycle. Once she ovulates, the egg is viable for 12-24 hours. That is the window at which conception can take place. If a woman happens to have sex on the day of, or the 2-3 days prior to ovulation, she has a chance of getting pregnant. This may or may not happen, depending on whether the sperm get to the egg in time and if one is able to penetrate it. Talk to any couple trying to conceive a child and you’ll see it’s not all as easy as we sometimes make it out to be. Once a woman has sex, the sperm can live inside her body for up to 5 days, but usually closer to 2-3 days. That’s why the days before ovulation also matter. If she has sex after that 12-24 hour window of opportunity closes, then she cannot get pregnant. A woman DOES NOT get pregnant as soon as she has sex, UNLESS she happen to be within that 12-24 hour window of time.
Now, taking the pill is supposed to prevent ovulation, so there would be no egg to fertilize. So, yes, most of the time the pill (and Plan B, if taken in time and at the right time in a woman’s cycle, meaning before she has released the egg) would prevent conception from happening in the first place. However, as explained below, it has a chance of preventing implantation of a fertilized egg (which may or may not have become a viable pregnancy anyway– again it’s estimated that most fertilized eggs don’t actually implant).
@loveandpolitics - Actually, both the pill and Plan B can prevent implantation, so technically the egg could have been fertilized and the pill could prevent it from implanting. But since the fertilized egg actually only had like a 25-30% chance of implanting anyway, it’s hard to tell if there would’ve been a viable pregnancy either way.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - “Not sure I believe it, but you go ahead and believe it, it’s your right.” It’s not a question of “believing,” it’s simple biology.
@mightymarce - Ok, so what about the ones that WERE in the time frame and WERE conceived right at the point of sex. You said yourself different woman ovulate at different times. So agreed, some it wouldn’t affect, but there are some that it WOULD be killing a conceived baby. THOSE are the ones I’m trying to defend because they HAVE no one to defend them, not even their own mothers to be. It’s just sad, thats all I can say about it.
That’s really stupid. I’m 100% pro-life and as such, I am 100% for contraceptives. It’s really a double-standard to say you can’t have an abortion but you’re also not allowed to do anything to prevent a pregancy. The only way to help prevent abortions in the future is to educate people to either abstain or use protection!
But to answer the question, if the pharmacy is privately owned, they should be allowed to carry or not carry whatever items they want.
What oh gosh that’s beyond wrong. pharmacy should not have the right to not sell items that people need.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - If someone conceived ‘right at the point of sex’ and took the morning after pill, it would not kill the baby. Plan B doesn’t do anything if you are already pregnant, but it prevents fertilization if it has not already occured.
I think its wrong that they refuse to carry contraceptives, even condoms, but they provide Viagra.
@moritheil - You’re right about how Plan B shouldn’t be a first plan for birth control. I took it once because my hubby and I aren’t ready for kids, and that stupid pill totally screwed me up. I was cranky, very hungry, and very tired for at least a week, and it took months for my natural rhythm to recover.
So no, I would not recommend it as a “first plan”.
@shellybean99 - The other kicker is I think some insurance companies cover Viagra but they don’t cover birth control. Even though birth control has some great health advantages for women and Viagra just allows a man to get off.
ummm. well I suppose if it is a private pharmacy, it has that right.
Seems weird not to sell condoms, tho…they also help protect against STDs…
@KechiNeko244 - Interesting. I knew that the broad clinical conclusion was “this really should be a plan of last resort” but I hadn’t seen anything anecdotal. That can’t be good for you
@mammaquiet - That gets into “do we care more about punishing people or about helping them?”
If its a personally owned pharmacy, I don’t see why not. Stores choose what they stock and what vendors they carry all the time.
@moritheil - Well, it pretty much reconfigures your hormones while it prevents a fertilized egg from implanting. The package said that it would probably make me sick to my stomach, but I just rememebr having the munchies really badly. But it’s one of those things I struggle with. Being pro-life, should I feel guilty for taking the morning-after pill? It was awhile ago when I took it but I still don’t know how I feel about taking it.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Actually, Plan B works like a birth control pill to prevent pregnancy mainly by stopping the release of an egg from the ovary. It is possible that Plan B may also work by preventing fertilization of an egg (the uniting of sperm with the egg) or by preventing attachment to the uterus, which usually occurs beginning 7 days after release of an egg from the ovary. Plan Bwill not do anything to a fertilized egg already attached to the uterus, so if the woman is already pregnant, the pregnancy is not “aborted.” It’s not the same thing as the abortion pill (RU-486).
@UnworthyofHisgrace - It is sad.
However, what I find even sadder, is that while these tiny embrios just barely bigger than a single-celled organism have so many people speaking for them, there’s very few who then stick around to check if the mother is getting adequate prenatal care, or to help her get that care (which we’re finding can have more and more of an impact in the baby’s long-term health), or who stick around further still to make sure they’re being raised in a proper environment, free of abuse and neglect.
in many rural areas, there are only a few pharmacies. If they all are Fundamentalists, than nobody will be able to get birth control and there will be many unwanted pregnancies.
Of course, if it is their own business they can do whatever they want with it.
If you chose to become a pharmacist, it is your job to provide people with the medication they need or simply have a prescription for. Your personal judgement of what they should and shouldn’t do should be kept in your head, it has no place in your job and if you can’t handle that, choose another profession. In the same line of thought, when people walk into a pharmacy with a prescription or needing medication, they should have a reasonable possibility of getting what they need or they will simply go elsewhere. Pharmacies exist to serve the public, not to promote one way of thought over another. This is wrong.
Sure, if it’s private property and privately run, they can do whatever the hell they want.
But I’m not shopping there, even if I’m just shopping for gum. I believe in making contraceptives freely available.
Oh, and btw, I know several women who need hormonal birth control, even though they are infertile and virgins. So I’d tell those biased pharmacists to shove it.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - Plan B is a post-intercourse method of birth control which prevents ovulation, fertilization, or implantation (and so is only effective within 72 hours). It does not affect an implanted embryo. “Conception” is fertilization, and most of the time, that’s what plan B is trying to prevent. In this respect, it’s not much different than a birth control pill which prevents ovulation. Try the wikipedia article for more info.
@mightymarce - It’s called the internet, Walmart, local health center, gynocologist, next-town-over… I agree that people should have access to birth control, but forcing anyone to carry it against their will is just wrong.
@la_faerie_joyeuse - I don’t know of any reputable website to get prescription drugs. If any exist that are actually trustworthy, that would be great news.
I was not aware Walmart had pharmacies that dispensed birth control pills.
Gynocologist offices do tend to have sample packs of the pill, but I doubt a woman could consistently get her pills from there. Maybe I’m wrong about that.
Next-town-over… that was kinda my point. I don’t care if one pharmacy decides not to sell contraceptives, as long as there’s others nearby that do. A woman shouldn’t have to drive miles out of her way just to pick up her bc pills. Sometimes the “next town over” is hours away. Or maybe all the pharmacies there would decide to go “pro-life” as well.
So you’d tell the pharmacists to shove it, but it’s not ok to tell them to do their job and give people their prescriptions?
pharmacies already have a say in what they carry. I’m not sure if they can refuse to order something if someone asks for it…but I know they have a formulary of what they stock and have on hand.
@loveandpolitics - I know how long it takes. I cannot take birth control pills and so have to plan “naturally.” It requires very precise planning.
Besides, I didn’t say anything about the time it takes sperm to get to the egg. I was talking about what happens once it’s there.
My god, they are not pro-life- they’re anti-abortion! I hate the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice” because, guess what, we’re all both of those.
I’m sorry if pro-life is easier to say than anti-abortion, but really, this is pissing me off
@magicalmusicgirl - Well… Let’s say you were a vegetarian, and you owned, I don’t know, a grocery store of some sort. Family grocery store. Your whole family is vegetarian. Should you be forced to sell meat if it would go against your conscious?
Sure; private businesses should not have to stock items they do not want to stock. If a pharmacy doesn’t carry birth control, go to another. There are plenty of them around.
But then I also think restaurant owners should be able to determine for themselves if they want to allow smoking or not. If they chose to cater to smokers, post it on the door and nonsmokers can stay out.
free enterprise
@JessicaAshley7 - Yes, biological life starts at conception, undoubtedly. Human life, at least to me, starts with brain function.
@magicalmusicgirl - Pharmacies exist to make money, just like all businesses.
@KechiNeko244 - Obviously,
your feelings are something you have to work out yourself. All you can
do is educate yourself on the effects of the drug and the liklihood
that it actually had an immoral effect, and then, if you still feel
guilty, try to forgive yourself, and if you’re the Christian type, then
ask Jesus for forgiveness, too. I hope you feel better about at least
your future choices – even if you think this was wrong, I hope you see
it as a learning experience and move on.
@mammaquiet - If
you believe that people should have sex with ONE person in their
lifetime, then you don’t believe that people should need protection
from STDs, at least in the vast majority of cases.
@alexiah100 - Taking someone’s prescription is called stealing, and that is against the law.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - ”it knows RIGHT where to go and finds it’s target, if there is an egg there that can be fertilized.”
Oh, my. I’m going to tell you some things about basic biology, and if you don’t believe me, you can verify it in any number of ways – wikipedia, bio texts, asking someone who is proficient in biology, etc. Sperm basically have two parts – body/head and tail. The former is just a case for half the chromosomes required for a child. The latter is just a basic flagellating cilia which propels the sperm around randomly, without direction or purpose. This is why there are millions of sperm in each ejaculate – many of them are defective and just swim in circles, and of those who actually work properly, only a very small percent will actually get close to the egg. Once a sperm gets close to the egg, it has to actually get through an outer casing, which is rather difficult to do. The whole process is NOT as simple as shooting an arrow towards a target.
@musicmom60 - You’ve got some interesting insight on this, coming from a small town. Plan B is not an abortion drug. It does not harm an implanted embryo. And yeah, any individual has the right to refuse to do something (like fill a prescription for birth control or even the true abortion pill – again different from plan B), but he doesn’t have the right to keep his job if company policy is that they sell those products, because then he’s not fulfilling his duties… and needs to work somewhere else.
@mightymarce - It’s the combination of those things that will allow people to get what they need. Websites will sell condoms and non-prescription drugs. Walmart has a chain of pharmacies – I don’t see why they wouldn’t have birth control, or couldn’t get it in the local store. A gynocologist typically doesn’t hand out all a woman’s birth control pills, but they can, and many will order them for you, particularly if you tell the office/doctor that you can’t find them elsewhere.
Pharmacists should give people their prescriptions if it is company policy to do so. If I work at walgreens, and a woman comes in looking for Plan B, it’s my job to give it to her, and if I don’t do that job, I should be fired. however, if I own my own pharmacy, then I pick what I will and will not stock. If people don’t like it, they don’t have to shop with me.
@la_faerie_joyeuse - Sure, if that’s the company’s policy, but I don’t think this article is about following company policy, but starting their own business so they can follow their conscience.
Small towns are just not that small anymore, nor are people who live there isolated…with the internet and everything, people can order anything, and they drive everywhere. I would imagine a pro-life drugstore wouldn’t slow anyone down from getting what they want or need.
I really don’t have an opnion on this. Because I’m really not old enough to be worried about all that stuff (I’m 11, so ya’know it’d be kinda weird if I was really worried about that.) HOWEVER, I do think it’s their right to not put something in stock. Isn’t it? I mean, if they own the business isn’t it up to them what to put in the business and what not to?
They can do whatever they want. I think not carrying birth control or condoms goes too far though. Not that they can’t do it, but you’re not taking a life away, you’re just stopping it from happening, which isn’t killing. Do these people think you should only have sex when you want to have a baby? I don’t think sec before marriage is ko, but once you get married, hey! Go for it! That’s why you got married. To have sex. [oh, and commit your lives to each other]
I suppose if it’s privately owned there’s nothing you can do about it, but if it’s like in a Bi-Mart or Wal-Mart or something then yea, they need to supply the public with everything we could possibly need. By the way, that guy looks WAY creepy…like he’s one of those dudes who cliams to be religious, but is actually a pedophile or something…yea.
Sure.
@GhostBenjimon - “free to allow God”
Wow such power, I can tell God what he can and can not do.
@Color_me_Karma - Bi-Mart or Wal-Mart are privately held. they are certainly not governmental. being able to buy stock does not turn it into being own by the government.
But then it not as if major companies care about anything other than profits, so don’t worry about it.
@GhostBenjimon - Hahahahaha. I liked what you said.
Personally, I think it’s outrageous to not have certain products ready for consumers since they’d be losing business from all the demand. They should have to say where the consumer can get that product, otherwise he’ll be having to deal with some pretty angry customers.
I’d just go to Lung’s store anyway though. They’ll lose some business.
Of course. Â It’s a business and they can do whatever they want.
I applaud them for letting that stem from a values system as opposed to money at all costs, though. Â There’s more to life then capitalism.
I suppose they can do whatever they want, but it does seem rather pointless.
@UnworthyofHisgrace -
Amen to that!
as long as they advertise the fact that they are limited service pro-life stores, I dont see why not.
i think u raise a very good point there
pro life? that pharmacist looks the very picture of death himself.
Private business, private matter. God I wish the world wasn’t so political.
@magicalmusicgirl - well said! pharmacists are professionals, and should behave in a professional manner. pushing one’s own opinions down the throat of customers is unsavory, to say the least.
now, if it’s a mom-and-pop store, they can stock whatever they want, but i would rather go to a walgreens or CVS–more sure-footed. and if the pharmacists THERE can’t handle stocking and selling morning-after pills, then they should go find another job. plain and simple.
This whole conversation of when life begins or what the morning after pill does or does not do is totally off topic. The question is if someone should be “allowed” have a pharmacy and not offer certain pills. Absolutely. Not all pharmacies have every single pill on the market. And besides all that, people can decide what they want to sell in their store. Some convenience stores sell porn magazines…others opt not to. That is their right. If you want a porn magazine, go elsewhere. If you want contraceptives, there are tons of other pharmacies you can check out.
An independent pharmacy, yes.
Sure, they don’t have to carry it.
And…we don’t have to shop there.
Nope, they shouldn’t. We depend on them because we can’t just walk up into a corner store that only sells cigarettes & bags of doritios & makes your sandwich and say, “Can I have this kind of contraceptive?” and expect them to have it! They don’t deserve that kind of option because all they need to worry about is the fact that they get their paycheck. That’s all it really is about in the end anyway right? Or am I being naive?
@CanadianBroad - yea i like this method best. i dont understand why the US makes fun of canadians
wow! some don’t carry condoms? how can that consider an abortion? it’s just being safe… very odd.
Not if your reason for doing so is based on a wish to force your moral views on complete strangers.
This article shouldn’t surprise me but it does. Damn I hate my species some days:(
I think that any business should be able to sell or not sell anything they want just like they should be able to hire and fire anyone they want for any reason they feel like.
If you don’t like the business practices of a business then you don’t have to shop there.
Private businesses, whatever they sell is based on their decision. I mean, condoms and such seem like more potential profit to me, and if I owned the private pharmacy then I wouldn’t object to having that stuff. But if it’s public and you don’t have condoms, then you got yourself a problem.
No.
@la_faerie_joyeuse - Yes, biological life starts at conception, undoubtedly. Human life, at least to me, starts with brain function.
So, even though it was produced by humans and is developing in a human, it’s not human until the brain develops? By that measure, nothing cellular in your body is human. What, then, is human?
@what_a_scarlet_woman - pharmacists are professionals, and should behave in a professional manner. pushing one’s own opinions down the throat of customers is unsavory, to say the least.
By that definition, Walmart is pushing its totally biased and bigoted opinion down my throat by not providing me with black Glo jeans. I should force them to carry a brand they have every constitutional right not to just because I don’t feel like going around the corner to the mall for my jeans.
Yes, lets force people who shouldn’t ever be parents to have children. This way, we have a generation of lunatics from broken homes, half of which grow up to be serial killers.
Yayyy….
Or perhaps we can wait until they’re adults and then judge them on whether their parents should have had them or not and either euthanize or send them to jail?
Their store, their choice. Will just make you travel further to get what’cha want.
sure why not, it’s their choice
if it’s a private business then blah blah blah i wouldn’t fucking shop there and probably make fun of the people who work there.
i don’t buy this birth control and plan b not being prescribed because it’s against the pharmacist’s personal beliefs bullshit.
doing this is like saying “this is against my morals, so you can’t do it either.”
my pharmacists beliefs are not the same as mine, so he/she shouldn’t be in control of something like this.
also, i am going to start school to become a pharmacist soon. watch out california bible belt.
Here’s to making the world a better place!
Does not bother me as long as it is posted clearly so that people can decide if they want their scripts there or not….
hm….it doesnt seem fair to me. i mean, if they are pro life, they can at least carry condoms. they do Prevent there from being life to be taken away. (not 100 percent but you get it). I think if it was a medical reason for not giving something, then yes, but if its a personal belief (unless its a privat company and not a major company like CVS or something) then i dont find it fair.
@alexiah100 - I agree with you in regards to the aspect of ignorance.
I was in a Christian internship in 2007 and one of our classes actually addressed the dangers of being ignorant and uneducated, or being careless enough to appear that way. Being a Christian doesn’t require you to check you brain at the door, but so many people do it anyway. *sigh*
@EilisAngelos - it’s good to know that they are addressing the situation – they never did at my Christian college but then it wasn’t as big of a situation then.
@JessicaAshley7 - false analogy much?
I think it’s okay only if they’re not a sole or heavily relied on pharmacy in an area. It’s unfair to inconvenience people who may need certain things just because you don’t like it. If you’re uncomfortable selling things that benefit people, maybe you shouldn’t be a pharmacist. And I think it should be illegal to refuse to sell condoms. I think they should be free, actually. Let’s not give the teenagers more excuses to get pregnant. “You can’t buy birth control in this town and you can’t get condoms. It’s not my fault I’m 13 and pregnant!” … Yeah. Way to go.
If anyone wants to take the responsibility of not allowing women the choice of using contraception, then they should also be willing to take the responsibility of providing the money to raise the resulting children to adulthood. Quite often those who scream the loudest against contraception are also the ones who pitch a fit if a single mom applies for welfare. Either allow them to purchase contraception, or ante up the money to raise the children that result from the pregnancies. Not everyone believes in abstinence. And not everyone who uses contraception is single. The vast majority of married couples use some form of contraception. If someone isn’t comfortable selling it, they should enter a different profession.
Yes, I guess.
Certainly. As Voltaire said, I may not agree with what they say, but I will defend their right to sayit to the death. Well perhaps not to the death. I might risk a kick on the shin, which is quite far enough.
Nope. Those idiots should be fined every day until they carry birth control and EC.
Think about it, pro-life views are predominant in rural areas. Rural=less pharmacies. If the only pharmacy in an area is pro-life, you’re looking at a lot of unwanted children being born.
If it’s a private business, sure.
I would just hope they let it be known that they don’t carry it so I’ll know not to shop there.
I try not to support pro-lifers.
@what_a_scarlet_woman - since when are pharmacists advocates of protected sex (aka sex without responsibility of a child)? I don’t know any pharm’ies who went to school to learn how to give out PlanB or condoms.
Condoms?
Are you serious?
I personally would never, ever shop at a store that was trying to push the owners morals and values on me (such as this). It isn’t a business’s job to decide what medications I should or should not take.
From a free market perspective, if there is a demand for pro-life pharmacies, they should be able to continue to be pro-life. I think there will always be a demand for regular pharmacies though.
@JessicaAshley7 - No individual cell in my body is a human. Each cell is, however, human tissue, because of its genetic material. Taken as a whole, the cells in my body combine to create the life form known as a human – basically an animal with a rational brain. A 4-cell embryo is, technically, human tissue, and if those cells were put into another human and developed into something like a new heart, they would become part of a human. However, four cells alone do not constitute human life in the sense that they are not sentient, which is the unique human quality which distinguishes us from organisms with only a few cells.
Well, if it’s privately owned, then sure, stock what you want but I probably will not go there. Now, if I walked into a CVS or a Walgreen’s with the intention of purchasing birth control and they didn’t stock it because some prick had a problem with it, they’d be getting quite an earful, and then obviously no business from me.
No. What if it’s the only pharmacy around? What if you need one of the things they refuse to carry, and you have no where else to go? That’s just fucked up. Seriously. Like…if they don’t carry condoms, no matter what, teens are going to have sex, it’s how life is, and if they can’t get condoms, then they’re still gonna do it anyway, except now it’s unprotected. Lovely idea, really.
It’s their right to create their own pharmacy, and their right to their own beliefs.
It’s also their right to get a hell of a lot less customers.
uuuuuuuuuggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
@ryoma136 That is completely different. If you are a vegetarian and own a grocery store it is completely within your rights to open a vegetarian grocery store and choose not to sell meet. In the same way, if you study to become a pharmacist and are wealthy enough to open your own pharmacy you can do as you please. If you are employed by someone else, you have no say other than to fill people’s prescriptions (or by your anology, ring up people’s meat products) or find another job.
What the hell?!
If you’re pro life or whatever, then just don’t buy the goddamn contraceptives! Not carrying contraceptives is practically forcing your lifestyle on others. That’s absolutely ridiculous.