STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

blubirde · Chanel

RE: Target can refuse to fill birth control prescriptions?!?!

Andrea Julia · Coach

blubirde wrote:

Andrea Julia wrote: I DO think that the company should have the right to refuse to sell it. It is okay to take a moral stance. If they don't want to prescribe a medication that will terminate a pregnancy, they shouldn't have to. A woman should have the right to terminate a pregnancy through the morning after pill, but someone who is against the pill should have the right NOT to administer it. Why should the right to terminate a pregnancy come before any other person's right? However, again, I think that if a pharmacist has a moral objection to administering the pill, they should work for a pharmacy that won't sell it. I don't think it is something that can be done on an individual basis. I'd just like to point out that the morning pill, Plan B, doesn't terminate a pregnancy. It prevents pregnancy but does not stop an existing pregnancy. Just a fyi.

To many people, human life starts at conception or fertilization and Plan B would be considered an abortion. Some even see using birth control or condoms as a major sin because they prevent life.

I really don't want to argue the pro-life side of things. I'm not a pro-lifer. I just think that the opinions of pro-lifers should be respected.

-- Edited by Andrea Julia at 17:59, 2005-11-28

Andrea Julia · Coach

The more I think about it, the more I think Target's policy is ridiculous. If someone was so against birth control or Plan B that they won't fill the prescription, they should be against working there, too. I mean, by redirecting you to another pharmacist or pharmacy, aren't they still helping you get the prescription? Also, what if they signed for a delivery that contained the morning after pill? Or, maybe this is taking it a little far, but isn't the money they are helping to earn going to be reinvested in more prescriptions, including birth control/morning after pill? If I were to go to Target and get turned down for a prescription, I would definitely question the pharmacist. How could they still feel uninvolved when by working there, they will inevitably be involved in some way? I couldn't really take them seriously. So, Target, be pro-choice, be pro-life, but please don't try to play on both sides.

blubirde · Chanel

Andrea Julia wrote:

blubirde wrote: Andrea Julia wrote: I DO think that the company should have the right to refuse to sell it. It is okay to take a moral stance. If they don't want to prescribe a medication that will terminate a pregnancy, they shouldn't have to. A woman should have the right to terminate a pregnancy through the morning after pill, but someone who is against the pill should have the right NOT to administer it. Why should the right to terminate a pregnancy come before any other person's right? However, again, I think that if a pharmacist has a moral objection to administering the pill, they should work for a pharmacy that won't sell it. I don't think it is something that can be done on an individual basis. I'd just like to point out that the morning pill, Plan B, doesn't terminate a pregnancy. It prevents pregnancy but does not stop an existing pregnancy. Just a fyi. To many people, human life starts at conception or fertilization and Plan B would be considered an abortion. Some even see using birth control or condoms as a major sin because they prevent life. I really don't want to argue the pro-life side of things. I'm not a pro-lifer. I just think that the opinions of pro-lifers should be respected.-- Edited by Andrea Julia at 17:59, 2005-11-28

I'm not arguing pro-life or pro-choice points either. It's just that some people are misinformed about what Plan B actually does. I get what you're saying now about people considering life at conception and all that jazz.

To be perfectly honest, I don't give a rat's ass how people feel about abortion. (I care and I want the people close to me to agree with me but generally speaking, it makes no difference to me.) All I care about is the government's involvement in reproductive health. People can protest, have their moral views, believe what they want, etc. Just don't tell me what I can't do. Whether I choose to do it or not.

As for Target, I also agree that they're playing both sides against the middle. It's getting easier and easier for me to avoid them this holiday season. I went home to Houston and in a 15-20 mile stretch, I saw at least 8 Targets. It's not such a novelty to me anymore. It's turning into something I don't necessarily want to give my money to anyway, regardless of this issue.

Oh and guess what? My uber-religious brother and sister-in-law are boycotting Target too! Want to know why? Because they won't allow Salvation Army at their stores AND because they won't say "Merry Christmas" because, apparently, my brother feels strongly about saying Merry Christmas in stores. Explain it to me please...

amazingfruit · Nine West

blubirde wrote:

Oh and guess what? My uber-religious brother and sister-in-law are boycotting Target too! Want to know why? Because they won't allow Salvation Army at their stores AND because they won't say "Merry Christmas" because, apparently, my brother feels strongly about saying Merry Christmas in stores. Explain it to me please...

I'm not sure, but from what I can remember when the story ran awhile ago, Target's policy regarding Salvation Army stemmed from lawsuits they received from non profit groups who weren't allowed to solicit on Target property. I guess to avoid being in the grey area, Target adopted the policy of not allowing any group to solicit on their property, which ended up coming out as a story against Salvation Army, since they were originally the only group Target allowed to be at their stores.

Also, back to the topic at hand, when I first read this, my initial reaction was that the pharmacists CHOSE this job, and if they didn't want to fill all prescriptions, they shouldn't be pharmacists. However, I know that becoming a pharmacist takes years and years of education, and for a small group of pharmacists, EC probably wasn't available when they first chose this profession, so I guess not all of them knew ahead of time what they were getting into. Either way though, I agree that a person shouldn't be forced to do something that they ultimately consider wrong, but in those cases, someone else should be on hand to help the customer. Target needs to straighten out their policy and stop playing the middle.

ETA: I have no idea what's going on with the whole Merry Christmas business, either, but I think it's clear Target has got some froofroo people working their policy department because they seriously are all over the place.

-- Edited by amazingfruit at 17:02, 2005-12-03