Va. pharmacy follows faith, no birth control sales

[M. (hristine]

There actually is a legal mandate in VA--pharmacists cannot pick and choose which prescriptions they will fill. I'm not exactly sure how the pharmacy in Chantilly gets around it, but I think they have, legally and successfully.

They will fill, or the product they carry?

Interesting. I would have thought those laws have more to do with generic vs. name brand product than moral concerns.

And so I wonder how they have gotten around it.

Medical/pharmaceutical ethics is one of the slipperiest slopes we've got going in this country if you ask me.

[jenbobblehead]

Sorry, I was wrong. There is a law, but the law is the opposite of what i thought it was. the law is that a pharmacist can refuse to fill any script he or she wants. Yay Virginia. Basically, it is to protect pharmacists from being fired from big companies like CVS for their religious acts (not doing their job.) I suspect at some point this will be challenged in a higher court (not Cod's, though) if it hasn't been already...

[John Smith]

On one hand I say fine, I'll shop elsewhere. On the other I say FU mr Pharma, you're not the doctor, you don't make that call. So I'm torn.

 

Of course like this thread says there are other options like mail order or competitors. But what if they have a phillosophical difference with treating infections with anti-biotics? Or think holistic methods are best for pain control? Or only believe in natural child birth? My what if's are far fetched because birth Control is the target here, nothing else, it has always been the ultimate target of the anti-choice movment.

[EL the Famous]

Sorry, I was wrong. There is a law, but the law is the opposite of what i thought it was. the law is that a pharmacist can refuse to fill any script he or she wants. Yay Virginia. Basically, it is to protect pharmacists from being fired from big companies like CVS for their religious acts (not doing their job.) I suspect at some point this will be challenged in a higher court (not Cod's, though) if it hasn't been already...

 

there are only 5 states that require a pharmacist to carry all legally prescribed drugs...i know illinois is one of them, don't recall the others.

[jenbobblehead]

there are only 5 states that require a pharmacist to carry all legally prescribed drugs...i know illinois is one of them, don't recall the others.

Well, that may be a different issue. I know many inner city pharmacies didn't want to stock opiates because they were getting robbed all the time, so people who lived in poor, urban neighborhoods had to travel entirely too far to get their pain medication and there were several law suits about that. It was right around the time in RI, anyway, that "drug stores" like CVS and Walgreens were trying to open the equivalent of convenience stores in poor neighborhoods, but refusing to put in pharmacies, and there was a law that stopped that as well.

 

I think the refusal to fill a contraceptive is a different deal...

[MattZ]

I think the refusal to fill a contraceptive is a different deal...

 

So do I, but that's where I think the slippery slope is. Unless it's all or nothing, aren't we just talking about what people's definitions of different deals are?

[caliber66]

But it's not prescription drugs vs. abortion. It's prescription drugs vs. contraception. Do we have a legal mandate to penicillin? What if I open a pharmacy and I decide that antibiotics are overprescribed so I don't sell them? Sure, it's my right to do so. No one can stop me. I'd also understand why other people would be bothered by that. Especially in a small town.

Chantilly, VA is not a small town. It is a suburb of DC, and there are probably fifteen pharmacies within a five mile radius of 13945 Metrotech Dr, not to mention countless grocery and convenience stores where you can fill your contraceptive needs.

[EL the Famous]

I think the refusal to fill a contraceptive is a different deal...

 

actually, i'm not sure it is. is contraception considered a 'medical requirement' in all cases?

 

personally, i don't really care...as stated, slope or not, there are plenty of viable alternatives to folks who have only one pharmacy option or, better yet, NO local pharmacy option, to obtain whatever they want.

[MattZ]

Chantilly, VA is not a small town. It is a suburb of DC, and there are probably fifteen pharmacies within a five mile radius of 13945 Metrotech Dr, not to mention countless grocery and convenience stores where you can fill your contraceptive needs.

 

I understand that this story is not analagous to the example I gave. I am suggesting that there is a slippery slope and it's not hard for me to imagine this happening in a smaller town where there arent 15 pharmacies within a five mile radius. Is it hard for you to imagine?

[caliber66]

I understand that this story is not analagous to the example I gave. I am suggesting that there is a slippery slope and it's not hard for me to imagine this happening in a smaller town where there arent 15 pharmacies within a five mile radius. Is it hard for you to imagine?

It is not hard for me to imagine that if there is a need for a pharmacy that sells contraceptives in a small town, then that market will be served one way or another.

[Spawn's dad]

Chantilly, VA is not a small town. It is a suburb of DC, and there are probably fifteen pharmacies within a five mile radius of 13945 Metrotech Dr, not to mention countless grocery and convenience stores where you can fill your contraceptive needs.

 

Fuck you, Jude.

[MattZ]

It is not hard for me to imagine that if there is a need for a pharmacy that sells contraceptives in a small town, then that market will be served one way or another.

 

Because the market has a good track record of ensuring that the poorest citizens have access to the health care that they demand/need?

[MattZ]

In my example, I am (perhaps unfairly) assuming that the people most harmed by something like this, are people that are poor enough that it is difficult for them to travel out of their way to another pharmacy. It's hard to imagine that a free market left to solve for "demand" in that situation is going to spring up to ensure that the have nots can get the antibiotics or contraception that they need. Maybe I am wrong.

 

Either way, this story is not an example of that, so this whole discussion is silly.

[caliber66]

It would be preferable that all people have access to all health care items they need, but if there is no pharmacy in a given town, and the Christian no-rubber drugstore wanted to open a store, I'm fine with that. The townspeople would have better access to prescription drugs than they did before, and their contraceptive availability would not have changed either way.

[EL the Famous]

Because the market has a good track record of ensuring that the poorest citizens have access to the health care that they demand/need?

 

now you're kind of making additional slope or something like that. 'small towns' do not equate to 'poorest' and as i stated, a town's population may not even be large enough to finanically sustain a local pharmacy. luckily, that isn't an issue...again, mail order or in the case of non-prescribed contraception, you make the trek to the local super wal-mart up the highway or to the niche hometown conveneicence store/gas station or even truck stop to buy condoms.

[Doug C]

Would folks that don't have a problem with this have a problem with it if this was the only pharmacy in town? In a 25 mile radius? And then isn't it just a matter of degrees? And if it's a matter of degrees, what about slippery slopes?

Excerpted from my post on page one: "... The only possible problem I see is in a small town without a chain pharmacy where the majority of the residents are of a likemind - crazy! ha ha. I could see the non-crazy segment of the population not being served but I'd be willing to bet that in a case like that a Soros-esque person/people would open a competitive pharmacy even if it lost money. ..."

[MattZ]

It would be preferable that all people have access to all health care items they need, but if there is no pharmacy in a given town, and the Christian no-rubber drugstore wanted to open a store, I'm fine with that. The townspeople would have better access to prescription drugs than they did before, and their contraceptive availability would not have changed either way.

 

Of course. I never suggested otherwise. I dont have any problem (legally) with a private business doing something like this. We agree.

 

Although for the record, there were plenty of private businesses that decided not to serve black people for awhile. Under the same theory. I am not suggesting that we need to legislate access to contraception or antibiotics, but legislating the behavior of private business is not without precedent.

[jenbobblehead]

from the article:

 

Earlier this year in Wisconsin, a state appeals court upheld sanctions against a pharmacist who refused to dispense birth control pills to a woman and wouldn't transfer her prescription elsewhere. Elsewhere, at least seven states require pharmacies or pharmacists to fill contraceptive prescriptions, according to the National Women's Law Center. Four states explicitly give pharmacists the right to turn away any prescriptions, the group said.

 

Virginia is clearly one of those four states.

[MattZ]

In my example, I am (perhaps unfairly) assuming that the people most harmed by something like this, are people that are poor

 

 

now you're kind of making additional slope or something like that. 'small towns' do not equate to 'poorest'

 

Yes, you are right. I admitted it above.

[M. (hristine]

When I was a young, married, walking ovulator, we lived so far out in the boonies I had to drive 60 miles for birth control pills. Uphill both ways.

[jenbobblehead]

When I was a young, married, walking ovulator, we lived so far out in the boonies I had to drive 60 miles for birth control pills. Uphill both ways.

IN THE SNOW!

[MattZ]

I am just posting in here because I dont want to go back to that stupid election thread.

[M. (hristine]

WITH NO SHOES!

[caliber66]

Although for the record, there were plenty of private businesses that decided not to serve black people for awhile. Under the same theory. I am not suggesting that we need to legislate access to contraception or antibiotics, but legislating the behavior of private business is not without precedent.

Are you suggesting being able to purchase contraceptives in any pharmacy is a civil right?

[MattZ]

Are you suggesting being able to purchase contraceptives in any pharmacy is a civil right?

 

I dont think it's tooooo much of a stretch to at least argue that health care is a civil right. But I agree it is certainly not accepted. And I agree it's harder to equate contraception with health care. So, no, I won't argue it.