Congress to Consider Birth Control Bill

[Jolie Rouge]

Proposal would ensure pharmacies fill prescriptions
From Lindy Royce -- CNN Washington Bureau
Thursday, April 14, 2005


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Reports of pharmacists with particular religious and moral beliefs denying prescriptions for birth control have prompted legislation that would ensure all prescriptions are filled.

House and Senate backers unveiled a bill dubbed the Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act (ALPhA) on Thursday.

It would allow a pharmacist to refuse to fill a prescription only if the prescription can be passed to and filled by a co-worker at the same pharmacy.

According to NARAL Pro-Choice America, a reproductive rights group, legislators in 10 states are considering bills that would permit pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions. A federal law, if passed, would pre-empt any state law. "What have we come to in this country?" Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat and House sponsor of the bill, said Thursday morning at a rally on Capitol Hill. "We are merely saying, 'let the laws in this country stand.' Let a woman be treated with dignity. When she has a prescription from her doctor, that privacy should be respected."

Yet some want additional legislation to protect pharmacists who believe certain birth control drugs are forms of abortion, Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life, told the Reuters news agency. The group provides legal advice and support to pharmacists.

Brauer told Reuters she believes doctors will eventually begin ordering women to abort disabled children, or refuse to treat them after birth. "They'll force women to kill their children ... It will be like China. It's the next logical step," she told Reuters. :rolleyes:



The American Pharmacists Association favors letting pharmacists follow their conscience, but says customers should have alternative means of getting prescriptions, spokeswoman Susan Winckler told Reuters.



"Nobody has a right to come between any person and their doctor," Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat and co-sponsor, said Thursday. "Today they might not fill prescriptions for birth control pills. Tomorrow it could be painkillers for a cancer patient. Next year it could be medicine that prolongs the life of a person with AIDS or some other terminal disease."

www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/14/prescription.bill/index.html



:mad: That is just wrong ... :mad:

Are they going to refuse to fill a MAN'S script for Viagra because it might lead to "unnessasary intercourse" ??

[schsa]

If you own your own pharmacy and feel the BC pills are somehow morally wrong, then don't stock them. In doing so, all you are doing is hurting your business.

As for Viagra, of course they would fill it because it could lead to procreation and that is moral.

There are some things in life that just don't make sense.

[JCshopper]

INSANITY!!! Don't let them have birth control pills... what's next, hiding the condoms? They don't want to allow abortions... hmmm... what say they about the thousands of unwanted children that would result from irresponsible, unprotected sex?

[Willow]

INSANITY!!! Don't let them have birth control pills... what's next, hiding the condoms? They don't want to allow abortions... hmmm... what say they about the thousands of unwanted children that would result from irresponsible, unprotected sex?


What will happen if people aren't allowed to use birth control? Well let's see. The babies can be born to people who don't want children and will be abused by them or they could be put up for adoption and live at an orphanage until they turn 18. We all know how hard it is to adopt American children and the chances of them being adopted are slim. I also think a lot more babies would be found in trash cans.

[JCshopper]

I agree Patchouli, that was what I was getting at. Hope you didn't think I meant anything different! I certainly don't think women should be denied their birth control pills. Beside the fact that no one can make a moral judgement like that one for me, how would they know why a woman would be on birth control? MANY women take them to help control irregular menstral cycles, pain associated with menstruation, etc. The only law passed that controls any choice a woman would have regarding her body and pregnancies is the LATE term partial birth abortion law. I have known women who have had them and usually it is not because they couldn't make up their minds to do it earlier, it usually has something to do with not being able to nail the daddies down with the pregnancy. I just think that is disgusting. Any other decisions are for the individual to make and live with.

[Willow]

I agree Patchouli, that was what I was getting at. Hope you didn't think I meant anything different! I certainly don't think women should be denied their birth control pills. Beside the fact that no one can make a moral judgement like that one for me, how would they know why a woman would be on birth control? MANY women take them to help control irregular menstral cycles, pain associated with menstruation, etc. The only law passed that controls any choice a woman would have regarding her body and pregnancies is the LATE term partial birth abortion law. I have known women who have had them and usually it is not because they couldn't make up their minds to do it earlier, it usually has something to do with not being able to nail the daddies down with the pregnancy. I just think that is disgusting. Any other decisions are for the individual to make and live with.

No, I was agreeing with you also. :) I just wanted to elaborate a little. :D

[latestdish]

Let me understand this properly: we are going to discourage women from taking birth control pills because 1) the government is about to underwrite the cost of all the unwanted babies food, clothes, and college educations? 2) some people have w-a-y too much time on their hands? I am sorry, but I see red with this one, too. Funding for a lot of crisis pregancy centers, that used to get help from the government, is getting cut nationwide. A lot of doctors that delivery babies are getting harder to find. Anyone see a possible problem here with an increased birth rate, and lack of access to available help for poor women, especially in rural areas? Ugh.

[llbriteyes]

Boggles the mind, eh? All of the above.

And its all in the name of religion. THIS is one of the reasons it is so dangerous. And in the nmae of Government. THAT is just plain wrong.

Linda



Let me understand this properly: we are going to discourage women from taking birth control pills because 1) the government is about to underwrite the cost of all the unwanted babies food, clothes, and college educations? 2) some people have w-a-y too much time on their hands? I am sorry, but I see red with this one, too. Funding for a lot of crisis pregancy centers, that used to get help from the government, is getting cut nationwide. A lot of doctors that delivery babies are getting harder to find. Anyone see a possible problem here with an increased birth rate, and lack of access to available help for poor women, especially in rural areas? Ugh.

[Jolie Rouge]

Let me understand this properly: we are going to discourage women from taking birth control pills because 1) the government is about to underwrite the cost of all the unwanted babies food, clothes, and college educations? 2) some people have w-a-y too much time on their hands? I am sorry, but I see red with this one, too. Funding for a lot of crisis pregancy centers, that used to get help from the government, is getting cut nationwide. A lot of doctors that delivery babies are getting harder to find. Anyone see a possible problem here with an increased birth rate, and lack of access to available help for poor women, especially in rural areas? Ugh.

I don't think you read the article thru - the bill before Congress would PROHIBIT a Pharmacist from REFUSING to fill a lawfully writen script because of personal convictions. Rather than discourage women from taking birth control, it protects them.

[schsa]

There are pharmacists who have very strong feelings about dispensing birth control, the morning after pill or anything that would prevent the opportunity for fertilization. Some pharmacists have lost their jobs with large corporations for refusing to fill a prescription for birth control. Which is why I say, if you own your own pharmacy and you don't believe in the use of birth control, then don't stock it.