by Melissa Branson
U-Wire
During the summer, a friend of mine organized a protest at Wal-Mart. She was bothered that Wal-Mart refuses to sell or fill prescriptions for the morning-after pill. Their pharmacies don't even carry it.
It actually shocked me that such a huge corporation would do something like that, but she assured me that she had researched it and as part of that research, tried at numerous Wal-Mart stores to obtain the medication. I was unable to take part in her protest, but I did however find some of her points to be intriguing and infuriating.
Wal-Mart is a center focus and sole pharmacy in many small towns across the nation.
Because of that fact, many people do not have access to the morning-after pill.
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I tried to find out why they refuse to sell it, but was unable to get any solid answers from people.
It could be for personal beliefs, such as the thought that the morning-after pill is some sort of abortion method, or it could simply be that they just don't carry it and there is no real reason behind it.
If a drug is legal, a pharmacy that large should carry it, despite any personal reasons or beliefs that may lie behind it. Women should at least have the option to take this pill, but in places where Wal-Mart is the only pharmacy, they are denying women that choice by not carrying it.
Now, I won't get into my personal beliefs about abortion and all that, because this is not an abortion issue. I will say, however, that I don't think the morning-after pill should be used as a form of birth control because it isn't safe for a girl to take all the time. It should, however, be available to people who don't have anywhere else to go for medication, because right now they don't even have the option to use it in the event of a one-time mistake.
I was amazed that such a large chain could actually uphold something like this. I could understand a small, private pharmacy refusing to carry it, but a place that so many people use and that is often the only place for people to go, well, they should have everything because they are catering to such a vast public. A pharmacy as large as that should have all kinds of medication, or at least be willing to get different medications to meet the customers needs.
Wal-Mart needs to get with it and realize that they aren't changing anyone's views on the morning-after pill - they're just denying women a medication they legally should have access to.
