Wednesday, November 02, 2005

I know I do not usually post about National Issues but this portion of Dan Savage's "Savage Love" column from this week's onion caught my eye and I agree with his statements.

-There were two disturbing developments in the battle over straight rights last week. First, we know that Target fills its ads with dancing, multi-culti hipsters giving off a tolerant, urbanist vibe, and runs hipster-heavy ad campaigns positioning Target as a slightly more expensive, more progressive alternative to Wal-Mart. Well, as John Aravosis revealed on americablog.org last week, Target's politics are as red as their bulls-eye logo. The chain allows its pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control and emergency contraception to female customers if the pharmacist objects on religious grounds. What's worse, the company claims that any of its employees have a right to discriminate against any of its customers provided the discrimination is motivated by an employee's religious beliefs. Read all about it at americablog.org and plannedparenthood.org.

Second, more troubling news from Tucson, Arizona, where a 20-year-old rape victim called dozens of pharmacies in town before she found one that stocked emergency contraception (EC). "When she finally did find a pharmacy with it, she said she was told the pharmacist on duty would not dispense it because of religious and moral objections," reported the Arizona Daily Star. Emergency contraception, the story continued, "prevents pregnancy by stopping ovulation, fertilization, or implantation of a fertilized egg. The sooner the emergency contraception is taken after intercourse, the more effective it is."

Don't just sit there, heteros. Defend your rights! Don't shop at Target, and write 'em and tell them why you're going elsewhere. (Go to target.com and click on "contact us," then "Target Corporation.") As for Fry's Pharmacy in Tucson, the shop that wouldn't dispense EC to a freakin' rape victim, the fundamentalist pharmacist claims it's her "right" to not do her fucking job. Well, you have a right to free speech. Call Fry's at 520-323-2695 and ask them why the fuck a pharmacy that won't dispense EC keeps the drug in stock. Do they do it just to torment rape victims? ("Oh yeah, we've got EC—but you can't have any. Don't you know that Jesus wants you to bear your rapist's child?") Rise up, straight people, and demand your rights!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

You are right, this is a very serious issue. The total lack of compassion is appalling - this is religion as ideology at it's very worst. Did you know that Walgreen's apparently also allows pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions on religious grounds?

If you are interested in this subject you may want to check out these sites.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week840/cover.html http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/2005/06/citing_religion.html

Unknown said...

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics
/week840/cover.html

http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/2005/
06/citing_religion.html

Sorry about that.

edP said...

This is not related to Fargo - but to your post on my thing (that sounds sooooo wrong). Thanks for reminding me about the Fonz. I totally muffed that one. You rule.