Blagojevich requires pharmacies to fill birth control orders quickly
Source: TalkLeft
Gov. Rod Blagojevich filed an emergency rule Friday requiring pharmacies that sell contraceptives to fill prescriptions for birth control quickly, following recent incidents in which a Chicago pharmacist refused to fill orders for contraceptives because of moral opposition.
“Our regulation says that if a woman goes to a pharmacy with a prescription for birth control, the pharmacy or the pharmacist is not allowed to discriminate or to choose who he sells it to or who he doesn’t sell it to,” Blagojevich said. “The pharmacy will be expected to accept that prescription and fill it … No delays. No hassles. No lectures.”
Fernando Grillo, head of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, said the emergency rule clarifies an existing requirement.
“This rule is in response, a very affirmative and strong response, that we will not tolerate pharmacies and drug stores in the state of Illinois not meeting their obligation to the women of this state in providing them good health care,” Grillo said. [Text continued at site.]
Will Illinois now start requiring obstetricians and gynecologists to perform abortions regardless of their feelings on the matter?
It’s not such a different situation as some might think. One major reason that Catholics object to hormonal contraception is because it is designed to act as an abortifacient if the primary effect (prevention of ovulation) fails and conception occurs. The hormones involved have a secondary effect of preventing implantation of a fertilized embryo; instead, it is expelled from the body. This is, in fact, an abortion. It’s almost the exact same procedure as the “medical abortion” method (mifepristone/misoprostol) that is available through eight weeks of pregnancy. I have never seen any statistics that indicate how frequently the second situation occurs, but for some people (myself included), even a 1-in-100 occurrence rate is still too high because it still causes abortions; and the number of women using hormonal birth control means that even a 1% rate translates into a considerable number of abortions.
Birth control is not essential to women’s health any more than abortion on demand is essential to women’s health. (Hormonal birth control is not the only treatment for PCOS or endometriosis, both of which are severely overdiagnosed if one compares projected incidence rates with actual diagnosis rates.) For the vast majority of patients, hormonal birth control is a lifestyle drug, not a medical treatment.
In our current market-based healthcare delivery system, medical professionals can refuse to participate in abortions, even though they are legal, because a person seeking an abortion can simply go to another medical professional. This right of refusal extends beyond doctors to cover all medical professionals, including nurses. Pharmacists go through professional training that is comparable in length and rigorousness to that of nurses and allied health professionals, including some physician’s assistants. Why then are they not allowed the same right of refusal?