Women Sue Wal-Mart Over Contraception

[seafan]

Women Sue Wal-Mart Over Contraception

Backed by abortion rights groups, three Massachusetts women sued Wal-Mart on Wednesday, accusing the retail giant of violating a state regulation by failing to stock emergency contraception pills in its pharmacies.

The lawsuit, filed in state court, seeks to force the company to carry the morning-after pill in its 44 Wal-Marts and four Sam Club stores in Massachusetts.

snip

Wal-Mart carries the morning-after pill in Illinois only, where it is required under state law, said Dan Fogleman, a spokesman for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart.

Fogleman said the company "chooses not to carry many products for business reasons." He would not elaborate. But in a letter to a lawyer for the plaintiffs, a Wal-Mart attorney said the store chain does not regard the drug as "commonly prescribed."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060201/ap_on_re_us/wal_mart_contraception&printer=1;_ylt=AkTFFkbmaIh6UwrCHzKeTDtH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

[Canuckistanian]

1. What?

You can't pick and choose which DRUGS to carry in your pharmacy. "Business decisions" don't enter into it.

[AllegroRondo]

2. Actually, they can.

Only Illinois has a law which requires pharmacies that choose to sell contraceptives to stock ALL contraceptives.

[seriousstan]

3. Of course you can, no pharmacy carries EVERY drug.

I have to go to a very specific drug store to get my name brand Percocet. I bet I would have a tough time finding certain anti-venoms also.

[Canuckistanian]

8. I never knew that

Guess it's different here in Canada.

[merwin]

11. The morning after pill is not at all a rare drug. There is no excuse for

not carrying them. They are only refusing to carry it as a protest.

Why does Wal-Mart carry condoms, if they are so anti-contraception?

[Ian David]

15. Will they sell cigarettes to a pregnant woman? n/t

[0007]

17. This can't be a formulary drug when it is so common, eh?

[Scairp]

20. Anti venoms?

As far as I know, only anti venom can be found at hospital emergency rooms. Never heard of it being stocked at a pharmacy.

[SlipperySlope]

6. But they do get to pick and choose

There are many prescription drugs that are so rarely dispensed that it doesn't make sense to stock them.

So, the SlipperySlope here is when can a store decide not to stock for business reasons, versus when can they decide not to stock for other reasons.

Also, I'm curious if there are any examples outside of drug stores where a retailer should be forced by law to carry a certain product? There must be some examples, but I can't think of any.

[Massacure]

7. Some states require gas stations sell ethanol blended fuel.

[Xithras]

9. I brought this up a few months ago.

Very, very few pharmacies carry a wide variety of drugs. A good friend of mine is a pharmacist and told me at that time that his only carries the most commonly prescribed drugs. If someone comes in with a rare prescription for some uncommon illness, they may have to wait a couple days while the pills are ordered in (they can be same-day expressed, but theres a large extra charge).

Business decisions DO select which drugs sit on their shelves. Drugs have a limited shelflife, and there's only so much shelf space, so they are only going to carry drugs that have a reasonable chance of being prescribed before they expire.

His pharmacy, by the way, stocks enough to fill exactly ONE prescription of the morning after pill. They have never actually had to fill a prescription, so they won't stock any more than that. If two women actually DID need it within a day or two of each other, the second would have to go elsewhere. Businesswise, the pills are NOT cheap and they just don't sell. To his credit, he does keep a list of other pharmacies that stock it "just in case". If the situation above did actually happen, he'd call around to find a store that stocks it for the customer, so the customer wouldn't have to drive all over looking for it.

[seafan]

4. Don't miss this little nugget:

CVS, the state's largest pharmacy chain, stocks the pill at all of its drugstores.

[Megahurtz]

5. Hahahahahahaha!!!

:rofl:Get 'Em!:applause:

[MichiganVote]

10. No contraception, No Viagra...seems simple to me

[Ian David]

12. They did this in Massachusetts? I didn't know they could do that here

[Ian David]

13. Our local Air America affiliate carries ads for Sams Clubs

Al Franken says that Wal-Mart is the only advertiser they've ever turned away.

I wonder if he knows that Sam's Club (owned by Wal-Mart) advertises on local Boston radio?

[HockeyMom]

14. If they require a script,

women can ask their doctors to write them a one month's supply of the Mini Pill (Progestin Only, not the Combination BC Pill). I used to take these and from what I have read (no medical professtional, please consult them), this mostly closely mirrors the Morning After Pill. I know when I missed some of my pills, my doctor told me to double up on them, thereby increasing the dosage. You might be able to do the same,in effect, get your Morning After Pill.

Again, consult with a physician. But this might be a way around it.

[SIU_Blue]

16. When I moved from the East Coast to Illinois....

I was afraid of the move politically, given that the midwest is not generally as liberal. For all of his faults, Gov. Blagojevich has done great things for Women here. Proud to be an Illinoisan. As for Walmart, every day they become more dispicable. I will never shop there again.

[hippiechick]

18. Wal Mart shoud carry it, but Sam's Club ?

:shrug: Who the hell would want to buy bulk?

[McDiggy]

19. My perspective...

As a pharmacy student (one year away from my PharmD!), I'm between a rock and a hard place on this one. On one hand I disagree that pharmacists should have decreased autonomy in any matter, but on the other hand I don't want to agree with the douchebags that just don't understand their pharmacology. (A progestin, Plan B, doesn't cause abortion, it prevents implantation.)

But from a strictly business standpoint, it is impossible to stock every drug. And, truth be told, I work in a pharmacy that does 300+ scripts a day (above average) and I've only been presented a Plan B script maybe 5 times in a year and a half. My store doesn't carry it because it isn't worth our inventory costs to stock it. Wal*Mart has a legit reason for their actions in this case, even if they so suck....

[femrap]

21. But the thing is....Walmarts are EVERYWHERE.

In fact they have put many pharmacies out of business...women in rural areas have no other pharmacy around.

Walmart is not even carrying it in large urban areas or college towns where there is a greater market for it. Walmart wants women shoved back into the 1950's....barefoot and pregnant. I hope the CEO (Scott) never can get it up again.

[McDiggy]

22. ...

What is the market for it? I live in a rural college town and I rarely am asked for it. I don't mean to be antagonistic, but usually the practitioner or ER the patient was seen at just doles it out from their office and leaves us out of the loop.

[SharonAnn]

23. If it were available OTC, then women could ask for it and get it instead

of having to go in for a doctor's exam, etc. and pay for that as well as the prescription.

Let's stop arguing why pharmacies shouldn't carry it (economics, religion, cultural environment, etc.).

Just make it OTC. Period! No pun intended!

[Pithy Cherub]

24. "supposedly" wal* mart has a world class supply chain

and distribution system that allows re-stocking and fulfillment in some of the shortest times - especially in rural areas. An effort to procure it should have been made by the pharmacy.

wal*mart (as much as I detest them and NEVER go in one) was very good at procurement, distribution and replinishment on the Gulf Coast after Katrina. FEMA could only watch from their hotel rooms....

[and-justice-for-all]

25. Again...a PRIVACY ISSUE.

This is no ones damn business accept the women who needs it. Next thing you know they are going to say "CONDOMS are an open inventation to have sex and should be banned." Anyones sexual activity is NO ONES BUSINESS but their own!

Oh yeah...I have abortions about 4 times a week, I wand them up in toilet paper and flush the little boogers. HA. Cant stop me from yanking it morons.