Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Support The ALPHA Act!

It's commonsense that people should have access to their doctor-prescribed medication.

The anti-choice movement doesn't think so. They believe pharmacists should have the right to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions on "personal, moral or religious grounds." As a result, pharmacists around the country are refusing to fill their customer's birth control prescriptions and states such as Washington and Mississippi are supporting them.

In Madison Wisconsin, pharmacist Neil Noesen refused to fill a woman's birth-control prescription. He also failed to transfer it to another pharmacist or return it to her. By the time she was finally able to get her prescription filled (at the SAME pharmacy by a different pharmacist), she had already missed a pill because of the delay.

For victims of rape, women seeking emergency contraception, and the 80% of American women who use prescription birth control, this is a huge problem. Where can women go, if not to their pharmacy, for contraceptive options?

Don't give conservative states the chance to legally compromise your access to birth control. Sign the petition calling on Congress to support the Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act to ensure that every woman in every state can get her prescription for birth control filled, whether or not an individual pharmacist has an objection.

According to the American Pharmacists Association, all practicing pharmacists must pledge to "assume ultimate responsibility for assuring that his/her patient has been able to obtain, and is appropriately using, any drugs and related products." Don't let pharmacists abandon their promise.

2 Comments:

At 6:21 PM, Blogger pilgrimchick said...

The big problem here is the justification--the idea that it treads upon someone's religious convictions to give out this prescription medication. However, what no one is discussing is a view on the religious convictions of the person who is buying the prescription--that person may be as passionate and as adamant that it is the right thing to do as the "pharmacist" thinks the opposite. So, who's religious convictions are better? Well, unfortunately, those that comply with the ones that the White House represents.

 
At 4:17 PM, Blogger The Vagina Warrior said...

nice input! stop back by!

 

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