Tuesday, October 21, 2008

birth control and business owners

I saw a story today about a new pharmacy in Virginia that has opened and will not fill prescriptions for birth control pills
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081022/ap_on_re_us/no_contraceptives_pharmacy

My first reaction was, "whatever, I just wouldn't shop at that pharmacy. They are business owners and I guess that if they feel birth control is immoral, then I'll just quietly take my business elsewhere." I'm a practicing Catholic who wholeheartedly believes that the church has made a mistake in its stance on birth control and I'm not alone. I think that the reasons are probably pretty shady, just as their reasons for not allowing priests to marry or women to be ordained are based on things other than Jesus' teachings.
I have a very strong reaction when someone tries to tell me how I can control my reproductive system. I'm not talking abortion here -- I am opposed to abortion -- but I'm talking about my right to choose when I want to get pregnant or if I want to get a disease. I'm a fairly intelligent being and if I do a bit of research and take proper precautions, then chances are very good that I won't end up with a baby I didn't plan on. I think birth control should be easier to get, not harder. A young girl and go and get an abortion with no notice to her parents, but she needs a prescription to get the pill.
Get this, the pharmacy won't even sell condoms. Not that they have to -- I'm not trying to take that right away from them -- but that is just fucking stupid. Women need to protect themselves from pregnancy with the pill, but they also need condoms to protect themselves from potential diseases. The bad part of me -- we all have a bit of that -- has a split second where I wonder how this pharmacist would feel if his daughter ended up with herpes or something worse.

Anyway, I'm ranting because I just hate it when men try to keep women in their place, as has been happening since the dawn of time. Why am I so upset when I've just said that he is free to run his business as he chooses? Well, someone on another Web site brought up the point that in rural areas, if the local pharmacy decides not to sell contraceptives, there may not be another pharmacy for 25 or 30 miles. What's a young girl to do? What is a cash-strapped mom to do? It irks me, yet still, I have to concede that the pharmacist shouldn't be forced to sell contraception. I do think that the government should then make sure they provide some sort of service to make it available to women even in the most remote parts of the country. I know, one of you is cringing because I said "the government should provide...." But damnit, if you want to reduce abortions, you better make damn sure that women have easy access to contraception. If they can bail out unethical bankers to the tune of $700 billion, they can kick down some cabbage to make sure our women's reproductive rights are protected.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You're baiting me... I just know it!

I can't get over how folks refuse to deal with personal responsibility. If there is no pharmacist nearby who can sell condoms or birth control pills, too bad! What if I can't get needles easily for my heroin fix? Does that justify sharing?

Why on earth should I pay for some girl who has a boyfriend who can't be bothered to protect the two of them? Really. Since when did that become my responsibility?

Schools want to teach about condoms but NOT about abstinence. If the schools we already pay for want to teach about sex and in a town that has no pharmacist that will carry them, is that my fault, to the point where I should pay for it? I don't agree with schools teaching about sex so why should my money be spent to enable it with youngsters?

I feel like someone slipped me some LSD.

What about something novel: Parents take care of their kids and get them what they need, whether it be birth control or education on consequences of sex. Wow! What a concept.

If I hear how "The Government" should do this or that on these issues that should be handled by parents one more time I'm gonna need some Pepto.

Unknown said...

PS, Glad you were not for forcing the pharmacist's hand. That would have caused a heart attack on my side. Can you imagine if I were forced to support Microsoft Exchange Server? ;)