I have to respectfully disagree that 90 percent of CVS pharmacies having the drug is good enough. CVS has a national policy to provide that contraception and if they can’t, they’re required to tell you where to get it. The reps I talked to seemed to totally disregard the fact that 72 hours is too long to wait to take the morning after pill.

But the CVS survey was just one example—this piece was a capstone of a project I’ve been doing that rates many local pharmacies on their commitment to providing for women’s health. CVS is one of the better ones. There are some Catholic pharmacies in there, too. You can find the whole series here:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/sexist/tag/capitol-pill/

HOWEVER, this article does nothing to help the situation. 90% of pharmacies reported in the article had the drug in question. The pharmacist who declined to fill a prescription for cytocec WAS following procedure: the FDA has approved the drug for oral use only, and without confirmation from a doctor, it would have been neglectful of the pharmacist to fill the prescription. The patient clearly was able to obtain the prescription elsewhere, and if she couldn’t she should have contacted the doctor’s after-hours number herself.

Not all birth control is an emergency; neither is taking a prescription the night before an IUD is inserted.
This article could have been vastly more effective if it focused on true emergency situations–denial of morning-after prescription-writing for rape victims treated at Catholic hospitals when not given the choice of which treatment facility they are taken to, for example; or pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for rape victims, forcing them to relive their trauma by going pharmacy to pharmacy looking for a professional who can do their job without judging their customer.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/sexist/tag/capitol-pill/

Some score really well. Some don’t (if a pharmacy gets low marks on its access to women’s health, I guess that’s what passes for a “hit piece”).

I do think that the way a pharmacist discusses women’s health—or decides not to discuss it—is important. When I call a pharmacy, and they tell me that they have birth control, then I ask specifically about the morning after pill—and that over-the-counter non-prescribed medicine is for some reason off the table—it gives me pause as to whether that pharmacy supports a woman’s right to contraception.

Women need to take the morning after pill as soon as possible. And that means that they have to know where it is, and when it’s there. It’s not surprising that a CVS wouldn’t have something in stock—it’s a little surprising that a pharmacist would tell me I could come back in three days, as if oblivious to the time-sensitivity of the drug.

I believe the point with the last pharmacist was that she did not call the doctor to verify the prescription.

Wow. This may be one of the worst thigs the City Paper has published in a long, long time.