Need for FDA Action

In some states, legislators are pushing laws that would explicitly grant pharmacists the right to refuse to dispense drugs related to contraception or abortion on moral grounds. Others want to require pharmacies to fill any legal prescription for birth control, much like Governor Blagojevich's emergency rule in Illinois, which requires pharmacies that stock the morning-after pill to dispense it without delay. And in some states, there are proposals or newly enacted laws to make the morning-after pill more accessible, by requiring hospitals to offer it to rape victims or allowing certain pharmacists to sell it without a prescription.

Some of the bills could become moot if the Food and Drug Administration approves the morning-after pill for over-the-counter sale by pharmacists, something advocates for women's reproductive rights and several Democratic senators have pressured the agency to do.

If over-the-counter sales are allowed, experts on the issue say, pharmacists who do not want to provide the pill on moral grounds could simply decide not to stock it, which current state laws already allow them to do. If a large drugstore chain decided to stock it, but an individual pharmacist in the chain objected, such a dispute might be governed by the employment agreements between the chain and the pharmacist.

-from nytimes.com

-it is obvious that the FDA needs to act now to provide over the counter access to the 'morning-after' pill. It will go a long way toward taking away the power of denial by fanatical employee pharmacists, and the media forum it provides for them and their 'christian' right backers.

The 'christian' right says that requiring pharmacists to dispense contraceptives against their religious beliefs is a violation of their civil rights. This is like a 60s diner owner in the south claiming that forcing him to allow blacks to eat in his restaurant against his racial beliefs (usually based on religious beliefs) violated his civil rights. How absurd!

*I have changed the link on this post to reference a similar and relevant newer post at bopnews.com- just click on the link!

Blog On
PLANET PATRIOT