Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Taxachusetts forcing Walmart to carry Plan B

The State of Massachusetts pharmacy board has ruled that Wal-Mart stores in the state must carry Plan B (otherwise known as morning after) pills. As a rule they don't saying:
Company spokesman Dan Fogelman says Wal-mart "chooses not to carry many products for business reasons," citing low customer demand as one reason. He indicated that Wal-Mart pharmacists refer customers to other pharmacies that carry drugs it doesn't.

Three women sued (or is it technically filed a complaint?) and the state will force Walmart to carry the drug. They are not the only state forcing Walmart to carry the drug.
Responding to the board's decision, NARAL's state affiliate said it was "delighted" and called on Wal-Mart to carry the Plan B drugs in all of its pharmacies.

I bet.

The guys who run Walmart are very smart indeed. If they voluntarily chose to carry the drug some of the anti-abortion crowd would have been on their case. They can, with the straightest of faces, say to the public that they only carry it because they are forced to. They must have anticipated that a number of states would, in fact, force them to carry them. Further, their official story is that it isn't profitable enough to bother with carrying them so there is no moral assertion that the pro-abortion folks can complain about. Brilliant!

2 Comments:

At Fri Feb 17, 02:18:00 PM 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Plan B is a contraceptive, not an abortiofascient and I think it's pretty radical that a company like Walmart would choose this ONE medication to not stock in it's pharmacy. Do they stock Viagra? Do they cell condoms? If so, why?

If people are opposed to artificial means of birth control in their lives, that's cool- I respect that. But why should those [usually religious] beliefs interfere with my ability to get a legal, safe and effective medication in a timely manner?

Just wondering.

:)

 
At Mon Feb 20, 12:00:00 PM 2006, Blogger mailgeek said...

Hi Stacy, thanks for stopping by and joining the conversation. There is a huge difference between carrying products with the volume of Viagra and Plan-B. I personally have no issue with Plan-B, personally or religiously. It is extremely important in rape cases, where it is normally given out by the hospital.

There are some folks who do and Walmart has avoided being the center of the controversy by this move.

Now, you can get that drug at the Mass. (and many other) Walmarts and no controversy. In the complex modern world it is unfortunate but true that this kind of silliness is necessary in the business world, but it is.

 

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