Why not a list of pharmacists who refuse to give women contraceptives?

[cynatnite]

I think it's past time that we begin to list all those pharmacists who deny giving women contraception based on their "moral" misgivings.

We all know it's a load of crap, but I do think the more that know who these creeps are, the more that might boycott them.

Let's make a list and make them famous.

[ingac70]

1. And put their employers on the spot...

sounds good. People need to know beforehand if going to a certain pharmacy is going to be a waste of time.

[Mojorabbit]

35. Love this idea! nt

[obxhead]

55. More importantly

We need to know not to use those pharmacies at all.

Being male I'll not likely be buying prescription contraception anytime soon, but if a pharmacy is discriminating against women then I don't want them to have my business either.

Love this idea!

[joeybee12]

2. Absolutely! KNR!

[seabeyond]

3. that would be interesting.... network it out. living in panhandle of texas though

i gotta tell you. that may be a way to drum UP business

[cynatnite]

4. It could be, but the rest of the world will know about them, too...

They may get some exposure they'd rather avoid as well. I think there would be some negative publicity.

[randome]

5. Perfect!

A perfect use of the Internet!

[duhneece]

6. Great idea

It's always good to be informed.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

7. Yes!! OK, then so how do we make this happen?

I'm computer illiterate, and I don't know of any offenders around here.

I think a website would need to be designed, then publicized. Word would probably travel pretty quick.

[cynatnite]

10. I'm hoping a great brainiac will do it...

Maybe an email to Planned Parenthood or NOW might be the way to go, too. Women need to be informed.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

30. well, someone here must know how to create a website

[chickypea]

8. Wonderful Idea

I am almost past childbearing (can I get a halleluljah) and have always been grateful to our slightly older "sisters" for putting up the good fight and getting Roe v Wade passed. I never ever thought it could so easily be lost. This is a fight I do not mind helping our younger sisters with, but I have yet to see any that are really that engaged.
Yes, slut walks were fun, and made a small point, but the real work? Where are they???? I would love to be proven wrong. I work with 18-22 year olds- they all just shrug their shoulders when asked!

[Alcibiades]

42. It's incomprehensible to them

We've had two generations of women grow up since Griswold and Roe. It's hard for young women to imagine, almost theoretical.

And a lot of young folks are just struggling to get by.

[Raksha]

9. That's an excellent idea. n/t

[RainDog]

11. k&r n/t

[Luminous Animal]

12. K & R

[intaglio]

13. Difficulty,

The forced birth groups will use this list to put pressure on the firms that do prescribe to go on the list

[myrna minx]

20. Good - let them try. There are more women *on* birth control than there are forced birth folks.

I think this is a great idea. Let their "invisible hand of the market" determine and adjudicate whether women want rogue pharmacists "morally" judging and distributing their legally prescribed medication.

[Tom1960]

44. Great Post

I also like your use of the phrase "forced birth". I'm from the south and in the 60's when I was in elementary school I heard "forced busing" more than I can stomach for a life time.

[mainer]

14. Excellent idea.

Let's out these reptiles. And everyone who's pro-choice can boycott those pharmacies.

[Mosby]

15. Great idea! nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. I like it!

Great idea!!

[SmileyRose]

17. Make them register their objections with the state in advance.

States can publish a list of the pharmacist names and where they work.

[southernyankeebelle]

18. If they don't want to hand out contraceptions to women aren't they suppose to tell them to

direct them to other pharmacies.

[MountainLaurel]

31. "Supposed to"

I believe so. However, past incidents have repeatedly shown that this is NOT what happens. And it does no good for those who can't go to another pharmacy.

[cynatnite]

32. It would be better to know ahead of time if they fill the prescription. n/t

[southernyankeebelle]

37. This country is going to hell in a hand basket.

[tru]

65. belle

Good luck with that if you don't have a car to get to another pharmacy.

[southernyankeebelle]

70. Yes you are right on that. They want to make it difficult. I do know that even the

Pharmacy here in our rural town will deliver your medicines. But again your right.

[myrna minx]

19. I love the idea.

[JDStone]

21. Exposing pharmacists -- I can do!

cynatnite,

Can do (free), but need some brainstorming to flesh out the concept (Menus/sub Menus etc)

And data collection, how, from whom, documentation. Can't put unsupported accusations out. IDEAS?

John Stone
Las Vegas, NV

go to:
https://www.facebook.com/1.johnstone

and leave a message with your contact info and/or phone number (Let's talk)

or

https://www.facebook.com/jd.stone.12

or

https://plus.google.com/105346668550339436650/

[cynatnite]

22. I send you a FB request...

I was thinking of something that would be easily searchable by state or zip code.

I'd like to see something with the intention of informing women as to which pharmacists are not inclined to fill contraception prescriptions.

I'll do some thinking about this some more so we can better flesh it out. I'll look at other sites for ideas, too.

[prairierose]

50. cynatnite, I seem to remember a discussion a couple of years ago...

about drugstore chains, maybe Walgreens, for example ?? that allow their pharmacists to choose whether they will fill prescriptions for bc pills or plan b. If we can find some information about that, I think those chains should be on the list. It is better not to walk into one of those stores with a script and get turned away or worse, have the script confiscated by some officious uber-moral pharmacist.

Does anyone else remember anything about that?

[Fawke Em]

46. Hey! You're friends with a friend of mine!

And that mutual friend can help build said website (and we both know how to market it).

[BlancheSplanchnik]

47. Alllll-Riiiiiiiiiiight!!

Yeah!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

48. I'm gonna FB you too.

look for the pic of Shrimpy!! (my pic is Shrimpy when she was a baby)

[crunch60]

23. This article is from 2005, but revelant today given the assault on women's rights

Maybe NARAL could help us compile a list of non-prescribing pharmacies.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Interference
Both Shakes and NARAL have revisited the issue of the Pharmacist's Conscience Unconscionable Clause in the form of a Tuscon sexual assault victim's frantic search to locate a pharmacy that stocked emergency contraction only to find the one area pharmacy that admitted to stocking Plan B was staffed with a pharmacist who refused to fill the prescription on "moral grounds".

http://cockamamieideasinc.blogspot.com/2005/10/interference.html

[Chakaconcarne]

24. pharmacies today have very slim...

Profit margins and clamour for every possible customer. This would probably have a profound impact. Just a 15% decrease in customers would be enough for corporate to take notice.

[marble falls]

25. I like it. A lot. I plan to ask my pharmacist the next time I go .....

If he's a refusenik I won't get the prescription, the candy bar, the newspaper: nothing ever again and I'll tell my friends why.

[fascisthunter]

26. brilliant! (nt)

[ck4829]

27. This is just good thinking and I would like to help

Contraceptives NEED to be used during or immediately after intercourse. They want women to run around to pharmacy to pharmacy to be told 'Surprise! We don't want to fill this!' The anti-choicers are counting on women to be surprised because emergency contraception is a race against the clock. This is bigger than boycotting, although you obviously can do that, any such list would also be a GREAT benefit for poor women and can defend their freedoms and rights.

I know plenty of free wikis and site hosting and I have some experience in that kind of thing.

[cynatnite]

29. That's great!

I don't have the experience. The idea came because I wondered how women would be able to trust a pharmacy to fill their contraceptives. It would have to be humiliating to get told they wouldn't fill your prescription.

[sufrommich]

28. That is a great idea! nt

[Zax2me]

33. What percentage of pharmacies is that? 1-2%?

Who cares?
If you happen to be near one of the very few in country that refuse you - walk across the street to another one.

[cynatnite]

34. Everyone should care...

If this hinders a woman from having access to contraception because an ignorant pharmacist refuses to fill the prescription based on their convictions, I care and I think it's important that everyone knows who these pharmacists are that are passing moral judgments on women for nonmedical reasons.

It's important for women to know which pharmacies to avoid that practice this. The more information women have, the more powe they have. It will also be a boycott of sorts as well. They need to know that their job is to fill prescriptions...not pass judgment. Do you suppose they are judging if they're filling a Viagra prescription? Do you think they'd refuse? Likely not.

[Bohunk68]

40. I think you are

forgetting about all those women who live in towns that don't have more than one pharmacy or even counties. Not everybody lives in cities where there is another pharmacy across the street. And, frankly, I care about those women.

[crunch60]

54. Thank you, and also this is an issue that involves entire families, not just women

Women are the incubators, so they of course, are the main targets.

[peace13]

51. Yes...just like that!

Don't worry about the imposition , the embarrassment, the blood boil because your rights are somehow second class. Just get up and walk across the street and hope that there is someone over there who will fill your prescription.

Since when do people get to judge what medicines other people take. Since the right has injected their 'little bit' of religion up the *ss of the American people.

Hope you don't have this kind of discrimination come your way. It ain't pretty!

[Scuba]

67. Why would it matter if it were only 0.00001%?

[RainDog]

36. someone should start a facebook page

and post articles with the name of the pharmacist and the place they work to provide information to women.

[meti57b]

38. Also, lobby the State Board to pull the license of any pharmacist who refuses to fill.........

.... a legally written prescription. If it's against the pharmacist's principles to fill it, then he shouldn't be a licensed pharmacist.

Although I don't really know if every state has a State Board of Pharmacy.

[RainDog]

39. pharmacies should be required to have at least one pharamacist on duty who is sane

so that a woman may reasonably expect to go to a pharmacy and conduct her business without having to deal with religious nutcases.

this will make it necessary to hire additional pharmacists to assuage the moral outrage of the talibornagains and catholic league.

Pharmacies will not want to hire someone who will force them to hire an additional person.

[crunch60]

41. Pharmacies should not hire people who refuse to dispense prescribed medication.

That's the job of a pharmacist, It's a pharmacy, not a church.

[azureblue]

52. as a friend of mine put it

if your religion tells you to do that, then mine says to smack some sense into your fool head.

[radhika]

43. Nice crowd-sourcing project - I like this...

Should be fairly easy for a techie person (alas, not me) to set up an Internet-based system that women could easily use to report these incidents. Include the name of the Pharmacy, its address and phone, and the name of the pharmacist (a cellphone pic would be nice too) that actually declined to fill their prescription.

Also nice to use Twitter for an immediate alert.

[lolly]

49. Love this idea.

If somebody starts this, please post so we can all post the link on FB or other blogs.

Cellphone pics--even before the project gets going, I wonder if we could get the word out to all women to ask for the full name of any pharmacist who refuses to fill the prescription, then make it obvious that they are taking pictures. They should ask for the supervisor's name and title, and make it clear that they are writing all this down.

Maybe just knowing that someone is watching them and monitoring them would give pharmacies pause. Also, part of their strategy is to make women feel ashamed and outcast. Turn the tables, refuse to act ashamed, and go on the offensive.

[daaron]

45. It shall be done. nt

[azureblue]

53. when it's up

I'l suggest a notification posted at DK and FB

[daaron]

58. Will do.

I installed an app to run it on. Give me a day to put together a basic theme for it and throw together a form for reporting a Woman-hating Rx, and we should be go for a beta run.

Any ideas on the NAME of this site? I was thinking something obvious like "Anti-Woman Pharmacy List", but then that's not very creative! Surely there's a catchier site name that will say the same thing?

[cynatnite]

60. CC Watch...

That's what we had come up with. It comes from the name Conscience Clause which was the name of the bill. I liked CC Watch.

[daaron]

71. OK, I've got a very alpha site up...

Check it out at:

http://cc-watch.bentzine.net/

No fancy URL yet, as I'm broke, but if someone buys "cc-watch.org" or the like, we can point it at this site and be all official. Also, if anyone wants to design a better logo, go for it!

There's no data, yet. If anyone has a confirmed list, they can create an account and get started right away. That'll help me to make it easier to access and search the data by state, zip, etc. (data to work with!)

I stress CONFIRMED list. We should probably only list Rx's that are PROUD of being bigots. Suggestions for improvements are more than welcome... basically I won't do anything without someone poking me. I design web sites for other people for a living. In this case, my client is some random folks in a DU thread. Have at it.

Feel free to DU mail me.

[Taverner]

56. Yep - BOYCOTT THE REFUSNIKS!

[jerseyjack]

57. Start the weblogsite with the list.

Don't just post the idea. But beware of set-ups for libel lawsuits.

[daaron]

59. Good point.

Any ideas how to avoid this problem?

[louis-t]

61. I still think this is only red meat for the repug base.

I don't know of any repug who would turn down a buck for ANYTHING. I think this is a red herring.

[Smilo]

62. Call it Fox News CC Watch............

they never get sued and they don't know or do news.

[azurnoir]

63. Great idea with one possible problem

I suspect many of these so called 'moral' pharmacists operate in rural areas where thy are the only game in town so in addition giving women info on where they may be able to have their scripts filled by mail order could be a possibility too?

[get the red out]

64. I would love it

I would know who to never by anything from, EVER.

[Chakaconcarne]

66. I'm a pharmacist....

Contraceptives are probably ~15% of dispenses. If a pharmacist(s) refuses to dispense that will hurt bottom line. Profit margins in retail pharmacies are slim and Corporate won't put up with it, I guarantee. They may be okay with the Morning After pill because that's not a huge seller, but not oral contraceptives in general. Remember, pharmacies are used to draw people into buying from the larger store.

Some ideas:

-Bring attention to it via social media or?? and provide links to State Boards of Pharmacy so it's easy for people to report.
Create letter templates. Remind people to report if Pharmacists aren't referring them elsewhere!
-Contact the pharmacy / store district manager and tell them you are going elsewhere with your business.
-Link the social media to all major women's organizations. (You could probably get some funding from them.)
-In the reporting, make sure the Pharmacy Chain and location is highlighted in addition to the Pharmacist.
-Link to Planned Parenthood and all of their locations.
-At these same pharmacies that refuse dispense, ask if they carry Viagra and Levitra and can you get it there? If yes, then expose this as well.
-Let the Republicans continue to advocate against contraception and incorporate any and all info into the Social Media channels. Force them to address whether they are against Viagra, etc as well.
-Use Pro-Life tactics and put up images of back alley abortions, hungry children, etc.

[cynatnite]

72. I would have thought the percentages were larger than 15%...

It's still significant.

These are all fantastic ideas.

[cap]

68. How about all Those who can, move their prescriptions elsewhere

[mentalsolstice]

69. A good source of info would be rape advocacy centers

They have good anecdotal evidence from their clients.