Reproductive Rights

Why Clinic Violence is Obama's Problem

OurFuture.org Staff — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:33:46 -0400

Political Violence in America

OurFuture.org Staff — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:33:46 -0400

Kathy Kneer

Kathy Kneer — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:31:59 -0400

Would McCain Support Pro-Life Pharmaicies?

Corinne Ramey — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:57:00 -0400

You walk into a pharmacy and pass the pain relievers, deodorants, and shampoos. But when you get to the spot where the condoms normally are shelved, there's nothing. And don't even think about asking to fill a prescription for birth control pills -- you'll get turned away and frowned upon in no time.

Where are you? A "pro-choice" pharmacy.

A story in yesterday's Washington Post chronicles the growing movement of "pro-life" pharmacies -- pharmacies that choose not to stock condoms and not to fill prescriptions for the "morning-after" pill, birth control pills and other standard varieties of contraception. The pharmacists and owners of these stores claim that they have the right to not stock products that they find objectionable, and that using standard contraception is tantamount to having an abortion. According to the article,

The most common, widely publicized conflicts have involved pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control pills, morning-after pills and other forms of contraception. They say they believe that such methods can cause what amounts to an abortion and that the contraceptives promote promiscuity, divorce, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and other societal woes. The result has been confrontations that have left women traumatized and resulted in pharmacists being fired, fined or reprimanded.

At first glance, this seems somewhat acceptable -- after all, stores have the right to stock the products that they like, and there are usually other pharmacies available. But it's not that simple. These pharmacies don't advertise their "pro-life" status, and when a woman walks in to a pharmacy to fill a prescription for the morning-after pill, the last thing she needs is to be told that she's killing a fetus and get yelled at about her lifestyle choices. There have been instances of pharmacists ripping up prescriptions for birth control pills (because, yes, says the Pharmacists for Life International website, the "pill kills") and humiliating women seeking contraception. "Rape victims could end up in a pharmacy not understanding this pharmacy will not meet their needs," said Marcia Greenberger of the National Women's Law Center in the Post. "We've seen an alarming development of pharmacists over the last several years refusing to fill prescriptions, and sometimes even taking the prescription from the woman and refusing to give it back to her so she can fill it in another pharmacy." These pharmacies could be especially problematic in rural areas of the country, where there are not always alternatives.

After reading this article on Monday, I had a sinking feeling that it sounded vaguely familiar. Although I've never been in a pro-life pharmacy, last week I watched several videos from Brave New Films about the "McCain Clinic" -- spoofs on what a women's clinic would be like if McCain were president. In one, a customer asks for information on STDs and the pharmacist hands her a flyer with the words "DON'T HAVE SEX." In another, the receptionist hands a woman a blank sheet of paper with her "birth control options."

So is McCain's record on reproductive rights really as bad as Brave New Films makes it out to be? He hasn't started any "McCain clinics" staffed with annoying, fingernail-tapping receptionists, but he has accumulated an impressively bad voting record, and proudly bragged that he's received a score of zero from NARAL. A bit of McCain's voting record from a terrific article by Arianna Huffington:

He has repeatedly voted to deny low-income women access to abortion care except in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life (although McCain is now wavering on trying to put these exceptions into the party platform).

He voted to shut down the Title X family-planning program, which provides millions of women with health care services ranging from birth control to breast cancer screenings.

He voted against legislation that established criminal and civil penalties for those who use threats and violence to keep women from gaining access to reproductive health clinics.

He voted to uphold the policy that bans overseas health clinics from receiving aid from America if they use their own funds to provide legal abortion services or even adopt a pro-choice position.

Given this voting record, I suspect that McCain would support these pro-life pharmacies. And on the subject of those pro-life pharmacies, apparently some of them stock Viagra. Anyone else see the irony here?

kirsten sherk

kirsten sherk — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:02:38 -0400

Rachel Larris

Rachel Larris — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:45:57 -0500

Editor and blogger for American Forum and the National Women's Editorial Forum -- a project devoted to promoting womens' voices in editorial forums both in the newspaper and on TV.

ebarson

Emily Barson — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:53:07 -0500

I am the Events Manager at the Campaign for America's Future, where I have the exciting and crazy job of organizing the Take Back America conference. I arrived at CAF after living on the road on various campaigns, including Howard Dean's presidential primary campaign in New Hampshire. My time in DC began at the George Washington University, where I studied Political Communication and Judaic Studies.

athompson

Anne Thompson — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:38:21 -0500

Anne Thompson is currently the senior media specialist at the Campaign for America’s Future. She promotes the organization in the media and produces videos on issue campaigns. Anne came to CAF in May 2006 from Population Connection, where she published op-eds and articles and edited the organization’s quarterly magazine. Since 2004, Anne has been working with Quilting Point Productions as the senior research director for the documentary film series What is Said about Arabs and Terrorism and as an assistant director for the miniseries The ‘Other’ Threat. Anne graduated from Georgetown University in 2004 with a B.A. in government and a minor in Spanish.

Molly Swartz

Eran Lillestrand — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:59:21 -0500

After receiving a B.A. in Religious Studies from Yale University in 2006, Molly Swartz moved to D.C. to work for Restructuring Associates Inc., a labor-management consulting firm. In this position, she researched and wrote reports and speeches on organizational development, labor relations, and business innovation for clients in the healthcare, airline, and utility industries. In search of more political work, Molly joined the Campaign for America's Future as a Policy Research Associate in 2007.

balbert

Brian Albert — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:55:31 -0500