Pharmacists...

I’ve been thinking about a disturbing trend that I’ve read about lately. The trend of pharmacists refusals to fill certain prescriptions because they have so-called “moral objections” to filling certain medications. The list is very anti-woman. It centers around the refusal of pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception (aka the morning after pill) and birth control in general. In a sense, no, not in sense actually, but in practice, these pharmacists are placing their so-called moral objections above the health of a woman who has been prescribed something from her doctor. This is happening across the country, so it’s not like it’s some backwater Bible belt issue. If these drugs are prescribed legally by a woman’s doctor, then they should be filled and handed over to these women without recourse, or without a lecture. Who do these people think they are anyway?? Don’t they realize, well, I guess that they don’t, that birth control is just basic health care for women, and that every patient should not have to face discrimination at the pharmacy because of what they’re picking up. You don’t see these pharmacists holding back male contraception, or Viagra for that matter. You don’t see the men being discriminated against in the same manner that women are being judged by someone who doesn’t know them, doesn’t know their situation, and doesn’t know why they are getting these drugs. Since these people are all high and mighty, and consider themselves good Christians for doing this and filling prescriptions according to their moral value and judgment, then they should know that God is the ultimate judge, and that they are not the ones to judge people, God will do that if and when they arrive at the good old pearly gates. They are essentially trying to play God by judging others, lest ye be judged I say. Essentially what we have again, is an assault on a woman’s choice to choose what she wants to do with her body. There are even States trying to legislate this into law where a pharmacist can refuse to fill something based on their moral perception of the situation. Look, you’re the damn pharmacist, the doctor prescribed something, you fill it, and everyone is happy. It’s not your choice for crying out loud. It’s your job. If I were running a pharmacy somewhere, first person under my wing that did that, they’d get the boot. Sorry, have no room for someone who doesn’t do their job. Here are some links about this disturbing trend, and the increase it has seen lately:

http://www.google.com/search?biw=783&hl=en&q=pharmacist+refusals

Personally, once again, I blame Bush and the right wing agenda that has attacked a woman’s right to choose since the inception of Roe V. Wade, and their moral outrage and indignation that anyone would choose to end a “life” that God has given them. Then they would piss and moan about the burden that possibly single mothers would put on the welfare system because of the children they are having out of wedlock, and couldn’t support on their own. Well, if you didn’t restrict access to birth control, you might not have these issues. Of course North Carolina, the state that I live in now, has introduced legislation to make it OK for a pharmacist to not fill a prescription based on his or her belief system. What a crock of shit my friends, a crock of shit. Damn, this country is getting worse and worse, and living over in a European country looks better all of the time.

The other thing that the right wing boys have trotted out this week is the whole flag burning amendment that they’re wanted to make to the Constitution for who knows how many years. It’s free speech people. Sure, it’s not a very nice thing to do, but it’s still free speech. The flag, it’s just a symbol of our country, and that’s it. I mean, I wouldn’t burn the flag, but if someone else wants to do it, then they should be allowed to do such a thing. Maybe these people in DC don’t have enough to do so they have to try and get stuff like this passed. Then again, it probably energizes their base constituents again. It’s a tough one to call because if you vote for it, good. If you don’t vote for it, you’re somehow anti-American. It’s the whole do as I say kind of thing, and if you don’t, well, you’re unpatriotic for some reason. The right is soooo good in their attacks that the left just backs down, and we run. That stinks. Even people known within the Democratic party as straight shooters, and people who speak their minds keep backing down when reproached by the right, take Howard Dean and Senator Durbin. Both, backed down from their positions when confronted with calls for apologies from the right. Have some balls fellas for crying out loud. Have some balls. What happened to the knock down drag out left wing guys? The hard core members? We don’t have them anymore, we’ve turned into whelps. I don’t get it really. We need more pipe swingers in Washington. Yeah, there are some who take no prisoners (Barbara Boxer comes to mind), but we need more like her. Willing to call out anyone and everyone when they can detect even the faintest odor of bullshit wafting from the right side of aisle. I do think that the tide is going to turn, possibly even as early as the next election cycle, because people in the US are getting fed up with the Bush administration. Couple of things that come to mind that ended up being really hurtful for the Republicans were the Schiavo case, the war in Iraq, terrorism, and the deficit. I think, or I hope, people are starting to see through their hail of crap to see what lies at the end of rainbow.