Wal-Mart ordered to carry emergency contraceptive pills in Massachusetts

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Wal-Mart ordered to carry emergency contraceptive pills in Massachusetts

Andrew Wood, JURIST NEWS, Tuesday, February 14, 2006, at 4:54 PM ET

(JURIST NEWS) The Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy (official backgrounder) on Tuesday (February 14, 2006) ordered the state's 44 Wal-Marts and 4 Sam's Club stores to carry emergency contraception pills at their pharmacies. Previously Wal-Mart (corporate website) only carried the "morning after" pill in Illinois, a requirement of state law.

Wal-Mart was sued earlier this month (JURIST report) by three women alleging the retail giant was in violation of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act (text) which requires all pharmacies in the state to provide all "commonly prescribed" medications. Last year the Massachusetts state legislature passed a law (text; JURIST report) requiring hospitals, but not specifically all pharmacies, to carry emergency contraception. Wal-Mart has said it will comply with the order. AP has more.

. . . more at . . . http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/02/wal-mart-ordered-to-carry-emergency.php

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So, in other words, Wal-Mart will not voluntarily comply in filling prescriptions for the "morning after" pill unless Wal-Mart is forced to do so by aggrieved people who must hire plaintiffs lawyers to file lawsuits/complaints in state courts and/or state regulatory agencies/boards! Cute! Wal-Mart "made in America" religion-into-law!
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[TaleWgnDg]

1. BosGlobe reports: MA orders Wal-Mart to sell morning-after pill . . .

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State orders Wal-Mart to sell morning-after pill
Retailer says it will consider stocking drug at all US stores

by Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff | February 15, 2006

Wal-Mart said yesterday (Tuesday, February 14, 2006) it will start stocking and selling the emergency contraceptive drug Plan B at its 44 Massachusetts pharmacies and is giving serious consideration to carrying the drug at all of its stores nationwide.

The world's biggest retailer acted after the state Board of Registration in Pharmacy voted unanimously to require Wal-Mart to stock and dispense Plan B, a high dose of hormones that women can take three to five days after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy.

The only other state where Wal-Mart sells the so-called morning-after pill is Illinois, where a state law requires it. Elsewhere, Wal-Mart has refused to stock the drug for undisclosed "business reasons."

Dan Fogleman, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the Arkansas-based chain would comply with the Massachusetts pharmacy board's ruling ''as soon as reasonably possible" and was reviewing its stance on Plan B nationally.

. . . more at . . . http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/02/15/state_orders_wal_mart_to_sell_morning_after_pill/

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[merbex]

2. Just another reason why I'm glad I don't shop at Wal- Mart n/t

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4. May I add, too, that THIS demonstrates another reason why

we should be grateful for plaintiffs attorneys! Indeed. Because plaintiffs attorneys give injured folks (such as those women who Wal-Mart refused prescription medications) the ability to sue the beejeezuz outa BIG CORPORATE America, including Wal-Mart! George Walker Bush, eats yer shorts!

Hhhhhmmmmm, and now Wal-Mart says it may make available at all its other Wal-Mart stores this "morning after" pill? Indeed. The power of a lawsuit or two!

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P.S. posted by a "non-plaintiffs-attorney" attorney who respects his brothers and sisters of the Bar.

[paineinthearse]

3. Reaction(ary) coverage from "LifeNews"

Massachusetts Pharmacy Board Orders Wal-Mart to Carry Plan B Drugs

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 13, 2006

Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) -- The Massachusetts state pharmacy board has ruled that Wal-Mart stores there must carry the morning after pill in its pharmacies, even though the company has a policy not to carry the Plan B pills in any of its stores. Pro-life groups oppose the drug because it can sometimes cause abortions. The state becomes the second, after Illinois, to require the retail giant to carry the drugs and a Wal-Mart representative indicated the company would comply with the ruling. The board's unanimous vote comes three weeks after three women, all members of pro-abortion groups, sued Wal-Mart for refusing to carry the drugs. Wal-Mart has until Thursday to provide the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy with written documentation verifying it is complying with the order. Prior to the decision, the board said it had not received any complaints about Wal-Mart not carrying the drug. 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.

Samuel Perkins, who represented the women in the lawsuit threatened to file more lawsuits in other states if the company does not change it's national policy. "Clearly women's health is a high priority for Wal-Mart," Fogleman told the Associated Press. "We are actively thinking through the issue." Perkins filed the complaint with the state pharmacy board at the same time he filed the lawsuit, claiming the retailer was violating state law. Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, NARAL's state affiliate, and a group that provides abortion funds for women all backed the women in the lawsuit. 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. Wal-Mart operates 44 pharmacies in Massachusetts and more than 3,700 nationwide. The group said it and it's national organization have send 26,000 messages to Wal-Mart urging it to carry the morning after pill.

Last year the state legislature approved a measure allowing pharmacists to dispense the drug without a prescription and overrode a veto by Governor Mitt Romney. Illinois became the first state to require the company to stock the morning after pill after pro-abortion Gov. Rod Blagojevich issued an executive order forcing pharmacists to fill all legal prescriptions, including for drugs that can cause abortions. Four pharmacists who were fired in January from a Walgreens store for refusing to fill the Plan B drug have filed suit seeking to overturn the order.

TAKE ACTION: Click here to email Wal-Mart and thank them for not stocking the morning after pill.


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