Emergency Contraception Still MIA March 25, 2008
Posted by threadingwater in back up your birth control day of action, emergency contraception.Tags: feminism, reproductive rights
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In honor of today’s call to action by Back Up Your Birth Control, I’m re-posting something I wrote last year on the topic. Please follow the link above for more information about emergency contraception, your right to obtain it, how it works and where to get it.
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Almost one year after the FDA approved Emergency Contraception (EC) for over-the-counter sales to men and women at least 18 years of age, the actual availability of EC in pharmacies is not guaranteed.
A recent study released by NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina contains alarming statistics that indicate widespread unavailability of EC, a glaring lack of knowledge about EC among pharmacists, individual pharmacy regulations for obtaining EC that directly violate federal regulations and anecdotal evidence to suggest that individual pharmacists are refusing to dispense EC based on their religious beliefs.
According to the study:
- Nearly one-fourth of pharmacists stated EC was the same as the abortion pill (it’s not) and nearly 5% stated that EC caused an abortion (it doesn’t – EC prevents ovulation)
- 40% of pharmacists did not have EC in stock, and of these, 30% refused to order it
- Only 57% of pharmacies in rural areas had EC in stock
- Prices for EC varied from $20 – $500
- 11% of pharmacists said they would require a prescription for all women seeking EC
Think North Carolina is some sort of exception? Aside from the fact that the state is overly represented on the board of Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International (”Dispensing Hope and Encouragement” I kid you not) I doubt NC is unique.
We already know that abstinence education doesn’t work, contraception efforts fail, and that women are raped and assaulted in this country at the rate of one every two and a half minutes.
We also know that approximately once every two and a half minutes, our television is going to assault us with another queasy ad promoting a drug for erectile dysfunction, guaranteed to turn his little pinky into something the cat can’t scratch down in less than four hours.
Does your local pharmacist have a problem dispensing that drug? I doubt it.
Better than nothing? You tell me.
The “local pharmacy” nearest me is a CVS drugstore, and they sell EC for $50. At least the pharmacist-on-duty at the time of my query had the grace to look ashamed of the price when I said I couldn’t afford it.
They make damn sure they have Viagra though.
No wonder women try to mash up pills and make their own. Fifty bucks? Oh yeah, thats to cover the research. I should get on my hands and knees and thank capitalism, without which nothing would be possible.
When are we going to get men out of women’s issues? Vote for people who are not connected with some christian fundamentalist organization, if you can find any!
Women remind me of 18 and slightly older voters ;politically disorganized. Preoccupied. Thus, giving men the go ahead.
Not judging; just wishing both groups would look out for their interests.
Mothers didn’t ever make a wimper over Foley; mothers don’t even galvanize against this war even with the unpopularity of this war. Young voters I can kinda understand; but not really. They have the time and mechanism through schools to organize. This particular issue; WRITE THIS SPINELESS NEWLY ELECTED DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS AND DEMAND CHANGE.
“Not judging???” My favorite conceit among victim blamers is people who say they are not judging, then proceed to judge.
Mothers and women have done plenty to protest the war in Iraq and to work for peace. And, “giving men the go ahead?”
Are you for real, Anthony? Do you actually believe power lies in the hands of women and that we simply hand it over to men because we don’t care enough?
Perhaps if women controlled the wealth in the world, we could attach a big fat check to those letters you suggest we start writing. That’s not about to happen anytime soon and, since we can’t rely upon men to give a rat’s ass about these issues, I take solace in mocking commenters like yourself whenever possible.
The things I want to write will get me arrested. Let’s just say that religion has no place in politics or the service industries. A pharmacist is in a service industry. Do these same lamebrains who refuse to dispense EC refuse to dispense birth control pills? to unmarried women?? Bah! Just let one of their professional colleagues or family members get raped…
The reich-wingers and the churches don’t hesitate to assert control over women’s bodies with their attempts to reverse Roe v. Wade, and yet these same people would never “intrude” on the pharmacists’ “right” as christians to refuse to stock this drug.
And Anthony–did it ever occur to you to ask whether men have to “look out for their interests” or organize or anything else you’re expecting women to do? I’m going out on a limb and saying the answer to that is NO, because if you had thought about that, you’d realize that men’s concerns are the only ones being addressed 99% of the time in this country.