ABC (Access to Birth Control) Act Introduced in Congress
Planned Parenthood applauds the introduction of the ABC Act in both houses of Congress. The bill addresses the problem of pharmacies refusing to fill women’s prescriptions for contraception.
According to PPFA, 98% of American women use birth control at some point in their lives [That must include a number of "pro-life" women? - Ed.] but in at least 19 states, women have been denied it at the pharmacy counter.
With the bill, if a pharmacist on duty refuses to dispense birth control, then the pharmacy must ensure that another employee on staff provides the birth control for the customer without delay.
PPFA has been working – successfully, but without much fanfare – to make sure women have access to birth control. Through PPFA’s Fill My Pills Now campaign, Aurora Pharmacy, Inc., CVS, Eckerd Corporation, Fagen Pharmacy, Kmart Pharmacy, Medicine Shoppe, Rite Aid Corporation, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., have adopted nationwide corporate policies that protect women’s access to birth control, in-store, without discrimination or delay.
June 18th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Too often we all talk about what is going wrong, what needs to stop, what needs to change, but not often enough to we talk about that is going right and focus on what to do, how to activate ourselves beyond complaining and pointing at or defining the problem. Thanks for this piece and the others on your blog. Karen Kring, Chicago.