JOIN ME IN PROTESTING UNFAIR PHARMACY POLICIY

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The following is from Nancy Keenan, President, NARAL Pro-Choice America


Becky's Story...

I'd like to share my personal experience at the Pamida Pharmacy on Saturday, April 16th, 2005.

I walked up to a busy counter with a prescription for two medications. The pharmacist took the note and told me she'd fill one medication, but I'd have to come back on Monday to have the birth control filled by the other pharmacist. I verbally questioned this, because she herself was a pharmacist. Her answer was "for moral reasons I will not fill a birth control prescription."

I challenged the pharmacist by telling her, "It's a valid medical prescription signed by a medical doctor. Your other customers are receiving service. I shouldn't have to come back Monday when I'm here now." I was refused a second time on the same grounds and told to try another pharmacy. My response, "No, my insurance information is here and this is where I come to get my prescriptions." I was refused a third time. When I asked her to show me written documentation that would give her a legal right to refuse, she had nothing to show me.

Correspondence with the Pamida pharmacist manager was most disturbing. I was again told to come back when the other pharmacist was working or to follow a sticker on the prescription that instructs the patient to call in their refill a week ahead of time. Although they upheld the actions of their pharmacist, I was not told anything regarding their policy on the issue or given any evidence that the pharmacist acted within her legal right.

We are constantly being confronted with such emotionally charged issues as abortion, family welfare, domestic abuse, etc. It seems very contradictory to refuse a product whose absence will only make these issues more volatile.



Dear Sherril,

Just a few weeks ago, Becky P. became only the latest in a string of women who've had their birth control prescriptions refused by anti-choice pharmacies.

It's no surprise that our opponents fight women's access to abortion. But now anti-choice pressure groups are even encouraging pharmacists to refuse birth control to women like Becky.

When this happened to her, Becky -- like most of the women affected by this disturbing and growing trend -- had no idea if her pharmacy's refusal was legal, no idea of how to get her prescription filled, and no idea how she might fight back.

Thankfully, Becky's tenacity led her to call us and start her own campaign to fight back. But many more women are forced to simply endure this degrading experience because they do not know their options. Even worse, women in towns with only one pharmacy can't even get their prescriptions filled elsewhere -- leaving them with no options and no birth control pills.

We've asked those who oppose a woman's right to choose to work with us where we might have common ground -- by improving access to birth control. Becky's story and the experiences of countless other women tell me that we have a long way to go.

We can't let this stand. When a woman and her doctor decide that a birth control prescription is in her best interest, a third party has no right to override that decision. Women need someone on their side. Click here to help us keep up the fight!

We've launched a nationwide campaign to fight this anti-choice ploy and protect a woman's right to have her birth control prescriptions filled without harassment. With your help, we can make sure every woman who faces this situation knows her rights and knows how she can fight back.

You can help us make sure this work keeps going strong - click here to help us: (SEE LINK ABOVE)https://secure.ga3.org/02/pharmacies/nEda7Nf51tRIM?

Put pressure on national pharmacy chains.
Raise awareness online and through demonstrations at pharmacies across the country.
Pass laws at the state and federal levels to guarantee that no woman is turned away.
Protect a woman's right to choose on all levels!
Becky shared her story in order to do what she can to fight back -- thank you for reading her story. We are here to help people like Becky fight back, but we depend on the generous support of people like you to keep moving forward -- if you can, click here and make a gift to keep efforts like these going strong.
Sincerely,
Nancy Keenan
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America


Sherril here, again. I have an idea and would appreciate feedback. When pharmacies are identified as in any way refusing to fill prescriptions for women's birth control, an immediate protest outside the pharmacy should be set up. As part of this protest, some of the signs should read: IN FAIRNESS NO MORE CONDOMS SHOULD BE SOLD AT THIS PHARMACY FOR AS LONG AS WOMEN'S BIRTH CONTROL IS DENIED.
Another might read: AS LONG AS WOMEN'S BIRTH CONTROL IS LIMITED BY THIS PHARMACY, PRESCRIPTIONS FOR VIAGRA AND OTHERS FOR ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION WILL ALSO BE REFUSED TO MEN WHOSE WIVES DO NOT WANT TO GET PREGNANT....WHAT'S FAIR IS FAIR.

If anyone knows of pharmacies refusing birth control scripts, please let me know name, location and as much other information as possible. I will be happy to head up this campaign. If you want to join me and have other ideas, let me know.

The Religious Right

My hat is off to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojewich, who has ordered Illinois pharmacies that stock the morning-after pill to fill all prescriptions for it.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/national/19pill.html?th&emc=th Are we going to allow the fanatical religious right of this country to dictate to us what medicines we can and can not use? If we continue to allow Bill Frist to get his way, we are going to end up very much like the society in Margaret Atwood's book, "The Handmaid's Tale". Take a look at the book, read it and see if what is happening now doesn't begin to look a little like that society. Let me know if you agree and also what you thought of the book. http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/atwood157-des-.html

Sherril

DISTURBING PHARMACY TRENDS

I have not posted here for a very long time because I've been busy writing emails about politics and other things I care about and forwarding them to people on my email lists. Now, I will put me ruminations here and see what comes up. This government of ours has been making me mad for a long time, but every once in a while something comes to my attention that is even more unbearable than the other issues. That issue for me right now is concerning Pharmacies and how persists are being allowed to force their religious beliefs on their customers. You can see the particulars at the link above. As a friend of mine who is a retired Pharmacist said, what's next? "Will it be physicians who will not treat a patient who is bleeding to death because the patient is a physician who has performed abortions, or even worse is merely pro-abortion? Alternatively, if a patient or a prescribing physician doesn't agree with the pharmacist's religious views on abortion, can he decide not to fill any prescription for that patient, even if it is not a contraceptive? In fact, why shouldn't pharmacists control all drugs in this country and decide who is to get what based upon the pharmacists religious beliefs. There are individuals who believe that killing any living thing, even an ant, is immoral. Therefore, can a pharmacist with such a belief refuse to dispense antibiotics because they kill bacteria?" My question is this. Isn't this illegal? Can't a patient or prescribing physican sue the Pharmacist or the Pharmacy for not filling a perfecly legal prescription? If there are any legal people out there, please do enlighten me. Oh, and one more thing. Here is the auto-response email that Walmart, one of the guilty Pharmacies, sent me in response to my complaint about the issue.

Dear Valued Customer,Thank you for contacting us at Walmart.com regarding women?s prescriptions for birth control. Your comments and concerns are very important to us as we strive to meet your needs. Wal-Mart does not carry emergency contraceptives. Our pharmacists may decline to fill a prescription based on personal convictions. However, they must find another pharmacist, either at Wal-Mart or another pharmacy, who can assist you by filling your prescription.Again, we thank you for your comments regarding this issue.Sincerely,Custo

POLITICS & ME

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I like many Americans found myself involved in politcs, in a real way, for the first time in my life during the last presidential election. When Kerry lost the election and I, again like many others, finally arose from the depths of disappointed depression, I thought that that would be it. I would continue to read the political emails sent me from MoveOn, PFAW, DSCC, The Million Mom's March (I attended the first one), Stop the NRA.com and Women't groups lke NARAL and Emily's List, as well as many from environmental organizations. I would continue to donate as much as and to as many as I could. I would send fourth the occassional email to encourage others to be somewhat involved. And, I figured that would be about the extent of my involvement.

Then I found a local NJ grassroots organization that started as a group of people much like me, i.e. virutal newbies to politics. This organization, BlueWave, NJ is amazing. For anyone in the northern NJ area, who is the least bit interested in trying to do something to impove on the State of our country, take a look at BlueWave. At the first BlueWave meeting I attended, many people got up to speak, one of them being this petite woman who was on a mission. She, having done mothing more in the world of politics than becomeing the president of her local Democratic Committee in Kennilworth, NJ. Avery Hart is her name and in the end she ran an amazing election for the NJ State Legislature.

If Wishing Would Make It True

If wishing would make it true, I would receive comments to my blogs, thus giving me a chance to interact here. This is new to me. Am I doing something wrong?

On the Defense

The debate on Thursday night could not have gone better from a Pro-Kerry point of view. MoveOn requested that we write letters to the Editor of local newspapers, so this is what I wrote. :-----------------------------------------------Dear Editor, Kerry needed to do one important thing since the beginning of this race and that was to put President Bush on the defensive. He succeeded in doing just that at Thursday night's Debate. Kerry was on the offensive and gave Bush much to try to defend. Bush did not rise to the challenge because he couldn't. Why? Because his decisions regarding Iraq and the way he has misled the country and his inability to fully comprehend complicated situations are all indefensible

Bush, Kerry and the Jewish Vote

Today I got an email from a friend with an article written by Jeff Jacoby from the Boston Globe. The title of the article was, Bush, Kerry, and the Jewish Vote. The gist of it was that Jews are knee-jerk Democrats and that this time perhaps they should think twice. Well, it was longer than that If you want to read it, be my guest .
And this is my response.
Dear Mr. Jacoby,
I actually have given a great deal of thought to this issue and have thoughts about it that go in different directions. Since I have been more active in this campaign then ever before, I have to actually step away from myself and my actions of late in order to objectively question Kerry's position on Israel. I had a Michael Moore/Farhenheit/911 Party back at the end of August because I became very mobilized by his movie and have more or less agreed with his other two movies as well (Bowling for Columbine and Roger and Me.) Since then friends of mine, Enid and Bill, sent me an email detailing why M. Moore is anti-Semitic. At the time, I thought some of it was taken out of context and tried to disregard the rest. I read (actually listened to the book on CD) his book, Dude, Where's My Country. He makes some remarks that come off sounding very much against Israel. So, I decided to write him an email. I will Fwd. it to you because it says a lot of what I feel about this whole issue of The Left and the Democratic Party in relation to Israel (and by association Jews).
My question lately is whether one is completely at odds when one considers oneself a Liberal, to the Left of center politically and even, as per Jacoby's article, a Democrat. and at the same time a STRONG supporter of Israel. Before the 1968 Six Day War, it was easy to think of Jews as the underdog, historically oppressed and subjected to persecution and anti-Semitism. Then after the war, Israel became strong militarily and had, not by it's own initiation, gained some land (though even with the "occupied" land, it still remained no bigger than the state of NJ). So, with the "occupied" land, a strong military, and the strong and unyielding Support of the United States, Israel went from being the underdog to being the "oppressor"; the so called "Palestinians" became the "David" to Israel's " Goliath." Israel lost it's "status" of being a "victim." So, it became the object of the Left's disdain and Palestine became it's darling. As an outsider, a Non-Jew, I suppose one could make a case for this, but they would have to be unknowledgable about Jewish history and look the other way when it comes to considering the rest of the Arab world in relation to the Arabs in the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan. I am clearly not one of these people. Israel will always be one of my BIG issues when it come to politics. I do, however see the logic and the humanity of looking for a solution for these people.
Having said that, in this particular election, though I agree that Bush has been a friend to Israel and actively against anti-Semitism, there are SO MANY other important issues that for this one time, I have put the "Jewish/Israel" issue on the back burner. I am hopeful that Kerry will also be a big supporter of Israel and if he isn't, I will be as outspoken about that as I have been outspoken in his behalf. His brother is a "Jew by Choice" and that can't hurt. I do not agree with Jacoby that Jews are by in large "blindly" Democratic. Perhaps that was once true, but I don't think it is today. We are, as a people, concerned with "tikun olam" and it is the Democratic party that shares that concern moreso than the Republicans do, traditionally. As for Al Sharpton, I didn't realize he was a rabid anti-Semite. I happened to be one who thought his speech at the Convention was "right on" in terms of Civil Rights. When push comes to shove, I will not work for someone else's "cause" if in the end, it will put me or my people at risk. But until I see that clearly, I will work for the rights of people who have been historically oppressed, as Blacks have been. And, by the way, though Kerry did not mention Israel in his Convention speech, Edward's did, though I must admit it was pretty much in passing.
So, in conclusion, I will continue to temporarily suspend judgment on Kerry regarding Jewish issues and hopefully take it up again after the election, should he become our next President. Something I hope and pray will happen. I think this time Jacoby has a point, but I will worry about it later.

Shalom,


Sherril

Come One...Come All 

Michael Moore and Me

I have been a fan of Michael Moores since I saw his film, Roger and Me. Bowling for Columbine hit it right on the nose and after I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 I accepted MoveOn's request to host a Fahrenheit 9/11 Party. I wasn't alarmed when I read his book Dude, Where's My Country and read the following: "Hey, here's a way to stop suicide bombings - give the Palestinians a bunch of missile-firing Apache helicopters and let them and the Israelis go at each other head to head. Four billion dollars a year to Israel - four billion dollars a year to the Palestinians - they can just blow each other up and leave the rest of us the hell alone." I rather assumed he was speaking tongue in cheek and expressing his frutration with the Israel/Palestine situation. After receiving an email from a friend that gave examples of, what it purported to be, Moore's anti-semitism, I became not alarmed, but concerned. And so, I sent him the following email, which I will post here. I am looking for some responses with agreement, disagreement, explanations, etc. This is the email I sent.........
Dear Michael,
I am sure this won't be the first or the last email written by a Jewish person concerned with the perceived, and I believe misguided, notion that you are anti-Semitic. I recently had an argument with my husband who is an Israeli-American, defending you against this accusation.

I am also sure you are aware of the email that has been going around (I fowarded it in a separate email), which means to support the notion that you are against Israel, and by Jewish definition, therefore against Jews. It was sent to me by a friend who I had invited to my "FAHRENHEIT 9/11 PARTY. I am further sure that this is far from your main concern, especially at this time. To be frank, my involvement with getting Bush out of the White House, which was strongly fueled by your movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, has far surpassed my recent attention to Israel and things Jewish, regarding this campaign.

I am not a One Issue voter, though Women's Issues, specifically Choice, Gun Control, Funding Education AND Israel top my agenda. I am liberal in my politics and progressive in my thinking. So, I believe we have a lot in common. I have seen all of your movies, as have my two children, 18 years and 23 years old, and we all thought they made their points well and were well worth the watch. Having said all of the above, it does worry and even offend me that you see the Israeli/Palestinian issue through what to me looks like a skewed view. The Left in general takes this position, seeing the Palestinians as the Underdog and the Israelis as the Aggressor. History and Truth would suggest otherwise, or at least provide a VERY long and complicated explanation..

Anyway, what I would very much like to see would be some forum (a debate or an interviw, perhaps,) in which you could speak out on your positions regarding all of this. I know you are not anti-Semitic and I know that even if people have problems with Israel's positions on the Palestinian situation, that they are not necessarily anti-Semitic. Understand, however, that from a Jewish perspective, having a long, long history of Anti-Semitism and all that came from it, we are sensitive to influential people who may be undermining the haven that was established 56 years ago for a people who knew persecution in every other "homeland" in which they lived. The "Palestinians" also deserve their homeland and therein lies the basic dilemma. Hopefully, someday a workable solution will be found. But it will not be found at the expense of a Jewish homeland. If your position is contrary to the last two statements, then I would conclude differently about you than I have. My hope is that you can and do see both sides and that you were just showing your exasperation and didn't really mean it when you said in,"Dude, Where's Our Country" (which I read), "Hey, here's a way to stop suicide bombings - give the Palestinians a bunch of missile-firing Apache helicopters and let them and the Israelis go at each other head to head. Four billion dollars a year to Israel - four billion dollars a year to the Palestinians - they can just blow each other up and leave the rest of us the hell alone."

I know you are busy and may never read my email. I hope, though, that somehow it will catch your attention and that you will find the time, perhaps after Nov. 2nd, to respond. I want to continue to support you and all that you do to further progressive causes. I also want to know that your mind is open and that though you disagree with Israeli Politics, you are nevertheless a supporter of Israel's right to exist.

Very Sincerely Yours,

Sherril

First Post

I am a novice blogger, I guess you could say, a newbie blogger, in cyber-parlance. In any case, I'm just trying to set up my own Blog and eventually I will post whatever it is I am thinking, doing, reading, etc. One thing I am really hoping to do is to connect with like-minded people regarding different aspects of my life. For now all I want is to set-up this thing and maybe to get a little encouragement from those of you out there, more in the know than I. So, if you are readiing this, please respond "IN KIND".