Stock Up on The Pill
For those out there who hadn't yet yeard, contraception is under attack in this country. There is an organization of "pro-life" obstetricians and gynecologists who subscribe to the belief that the birth control pill and other forms of contraception are abortifacient. In September of 2004, the BBC reported (in tones of utter amazement that such a thing could happen in a civilized country) on the growing practice of pharmacists refusing to dispense birth control pills to women with legitimate prescriptions:

Julee Lacey, a mother of two, had used the Pill for nine years when a pharmacist at her local chemist in Texas refused her prescription. "She [the pharmacist] began to tell me she personally does not believe in birth control," says Ms Lacey.

"I was a little caught off-guard and shocked... I asked her again. She said: 'No, ma'am, I don't believe in birth control. I can't help you'...

"I really couldn't believe she had the right to withhold my medication from me," she adds.

At first these were just isolated cases, mostly in the Midwest. But recently they have increased dramatically. [snip]

At the moment, the Pill is hugely popular in the US. But calling it a type of abortion opens up a whole new front in the pro-life, pro-choice debate. This moral condemnation is a fresh challenge to one of the most used, most reliable methods of family planning.

As discussed in this Prevention magazine article, there are also many doctors unwilling to prescribe the Pill:

Melissa Kelley, 35, was just as stunned when her gynecologist told her she would not renew her prescription for birth control pills last fall.

"She told me she couldn't in good faith prescribe the Pill anymore," says Kelley, who lives with her husband and son in Allentown, PA. Then the gynecologist told Kelley she wouldn't be able to get a new prescription from her family doctor, either. "She said my primary care physician was the one who helped her make the decision." Lacey's pharmacist and Kelley's doctors are among hundreds, perhaps thousands, of physicians and pharmacists who now adhere to a controversial belief that birth control pills and other forms of hormonal contraception--including the skin patch, the vaginal ring, and progesterone injections--cause tens of thousands of "silent" abortions every year. Consequently, they are refusing to prescribe or dispense them.

[snip]

Last winter, 24-year-old Katie Williams encountered a doctor who refused to give her a prescription for the Pill, even though she'd already been taking it for 5 years--originally to relieve extremely painful menstrual cramps. Williams, who had just moved to Milwaukee for a job with an insurance company, realized she was nearly out of Pills. Her roommate recommended the physician who had written a Pill prescription for her a year before: Cynthia Jones-Nosacek, MD, a board-certified family doctor with St. Mary's Medical Clinic, a Catholic medical center in Milwaukee. Williams made the appointment, explaining she needed a routine annual exam and a new prescription.

But when she arrived at the office, recalls Williams, "the doctor's assistant told me 'the doctor doesn't write prescriptions for the Pill.' I was totally floored. I just stared at her. "

Williams opted to take her chances and see the doctor anyway, thinking the assistant must have been confused. After the doctor finished her exam, Williams asked for her script, explaining she'd been taking the Pill for several years. "The doctor told me she doesn't believe in oral contraceptives and does believe in natural family planning," Williams claims. "I told her that's ridiculous." Angry, Williams stormed out of the doctor's office.

"Refusing women access to the Pill is a very disturbing trend," says Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "The war on choice is not just about abortion anymore. It's about our right to birth control."

Stock up, people. Get as much as you can now. Your daughters will thank you.
- posted by TJ @ 2:00 PM