Posts Tagged ‘birth control’
Birth Control Thrives During Recession
These guys, however, are probably hurting.
Cristina Page for Reproductive Health Reality Check wrote yesterday on one sector of the economy that hasn’t hurt from the economic downturn: Birth control sales. Page’s evidence of a contraceptive spike:
- Vasectomy.com has fielded a 30 percent increase in appointment requests since January
Are Condoms As Important to Straights as They are to Gays?
Zack Rosen over at The New Gay wrote an excellent column the other day about the importance of condom use within the gay community. The post covers a lot of ground—personal responsibility, modes of transmission, casual anal bleeding:
A couple years ago when one of the cutest boys I’d ever seen begged me to fuck him without a condom. Actually, beg is the wrong word. He pleaded. He whined. He implored me not to use one as if it was simply some seasoning our our sexual entree that he found disagreeable.
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Morning After Pill Now Available to 17-Year-Olds
A judge has ordered the Food and Drug Administration to allow the sale of emergency contraception—also known as “Plan B” or “The Morning After Pill”—to 17-year-olds. Previously, the emergency pill was offered over-the-counter only to customers aged 18 and older, and only to pharmacies that enforced the age rule by checking IDs.
U.S. District Judge Edward Korman had some harsh words for the Bush-run FDA in laying down his judgment, the Associated Press reports:
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The Morning After: English Pill Edition
* Feministe reports on England’s nonprescription birth control pilot program, which would allow Londoners to obtain contraception without a doctor’s prescription. The program, however, would place more power over women’s health decisions in the hands of the pharmacist:
Under the program, women seeking nonprescription oral contraception will undergo an interview with a qualified pharmacist. Strategic health authorities—which manage local health services under NHS—will be required to provide pharmacists with sets of instructions known as patient group directions, including special directions for girls younger than age 16.
* Via Daily Intel—deb balls, Arianna Huffington’s daughter, thrive during a recession.
* Scarleteen will debate you against the “abortion debate.” “Abortion: for or against it? Who came up with this question, Eagle Forum? Perhaps the Heritage Foundation? Sarah Palin? It’s a terrible way to frame the issue of abortion.”
* As Slate’s XX Factor debates the Herman Rosenblat manufactured Holocaust memoir flare-up, Noreen Malone asks, what about his wife’s role in the lie?
* Elsewhere in Slate, Abby Collard informs would-be politicos how to avoid future embarrassment on Facebook. “Clearly, the safest way to protect yourself is not to have a Facebook account in the first place—or, alternatively, not to do stupid things. But neither of these pieces of advice is very practical. The whole point of being young, after all, is to do stupid things, and the whole point of Facebook is to record these acts for posterity.”
Photo via trialsanderrors.
Bitter Pill: How the District’s Pharmacies Fail Women
In the District, Pharmacists: Rubber. Women: Glue.
For most professionals, an acceptable excuse is required to miss work: a swollen appendix, ailing grandmother, whiplash, at the very least.
Pharmacists, on the other hand, may refuse to do their jobs for any old reason—or for none at all. We’re talking about birth control, of course. In the District, for example, pharmacists are not required to provide such products, especially if their “personal views” won’t allow it. According to NARAL Pro-Choice America, only six states bar pharmacists from withholding birth control prescriptions/doing their jobs: California, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, and Washington.
That means that D.C. is a hotbed of the ultimate bullshit defense for denying health care to women. Pharmacists here can refuse to provide women’s health care based on such “personal views” as latent sexism, unsubstantiated medical opinion, or whim. Some other “personal views” local pharmacies have offered up:
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Capitol Pill: Rite Aid
Capitol Pill is a feature which tracks contraception access in D.C. pharmacies.
Rite Aid, 1306 U St. NW (and various). (202) 328-8761.
With over 4,900 drugstores in 31 states and the District of Columbia, Rite Aid’s chain of pharmacies stands to dispense a lot of birth control. It’s also prepared for contraception hang-ups. Rite Aid spokesperson Cheryl Slavinsky says that the chain has policies in place to comply with all state and federal regulations for dispensing medication—and deal with those employees who hold moral or religious beliefs against providing contraception.
Capitol Pill: Mt. Pleasant Pharmacy
Capitol Pill is a feature with tracks contraception access in D.C. pharmacies.
Mt. Pleasant Pharmacy, 3169 Mount Pleasant St. NW.
Mount Pleasant Pharmacy offers up copies, keys, passports, faxes, and a wheel of sunglasses in addition to its standard arsenal of prescription drugs. The contraceptive options here are similarly comprehensive. Though this 25-year-old independent outfit can double as a local dude hang-out, pharmacist Tony Majeed has got women’s health covered. Majeed says he’d “love to see the D.C. government subsidize women’s health products,” from birth control to over-the-counter anti-fungals. Until then, he’s got all forms of female contraception in stock—pill, patch, ring, and Plan B—behind his counter.
Capitol Pill: Wellington Pharmacy
Capitol Pill is a new feature which tracks contraception access in D.C. pharmacies.
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Wellington Pharmacy, 1160 Varnum St. NE
Wellington Pharmacy is affiliated with Providence Hospital, which is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, which is affiliated with a God who isn’t too hot on contraception. Wellington acknowledges that birth control pills are sometimes prescribed to treat conditions other than the condition of wanting to have baby-less sex, Wellington declines to fill those prescriptions, too. “At the pharmacy, we cannot determine the purpose for why a person has a prescription for birth control. Because we follow the Catholic ethical and religious directions, we don’t offer it,” says Stephanie Hertzog, director of public relations for Providence Hospital. Providence does, however, stock Viagra. “Viagra is actually prescribed for both erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension,” says Hertzog. In this case, that double use benefits a double standard. “It’s a relationship between a person and their physician,” she says about the Viagra prescription. “There are a few uses for it, and they don’t ask which one.”
KNOCK-UP RISK: “Immaculate conception” imminent.
Yes, We Have No Birth Control
Shelf Life: Planning your marital act the Divine way.
I am the only customer inside Chantilly’s Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy on Halloween morning, and I’m not buying. A week earlier, the pro-life outfit was blessed by a bishop, sprinkled with holy water, and courted by the national press in preparation for its Oct. 21 grand opening. Right now, it’s hard up for any man off the street.
Capitol Pill: Tschiffely Pharmacy
Capitol Pill is a new feature which tracks contraception access in D.C. pharmacies.
Tschiffely Pharmacy, 1330 Connecticut Ave. NW.
A call to quaint Dupont Circle outfit Tschiffely Pharmacy, provider of prescription drugs and curios, produces mixed results. The pharmacist on hand says Tschiffely fills birth control pills and provides Plan B over the counter. When asked if he has emergency contraception in stock, though, he wavers. “No, I don’t know if—I’m not going to answer that,” he says, before telling me to call back as a customer to get a clearer answer. When I visit the store a few days later, on a Friday morning, Plan B is in-stock and ready to go. Abortion pills, though, go unstocked on purpose. “I can definitely tell you I don’t have that,” the pharmacist says. So far, no customer with a prescription has tested Tschiffely. “That we haven’t discussed between our stores yet,” he says.
KNOCK-UP RISK: No comment.
