Once again an issue has cropped up that is being completely misrepresented by all parties, and once again, it is up to me, your host, to clarify the real issues.

First of all, the Plan B pill, or the morning after pill was developed to act as a preventative to contraception.  It does not terminate pregnancies, it prevents them from happening at all.  Specifically they prevent ovulation, like birth control pills, or they prevent fertilization, like a condom.  The active ingredient is the same as the one in the Norplant birth control implant.

So the conservatives who blast this as an abortion pill need to get a grip.  The only Christians with any moral standing might be catholics, or other faiths who (by dogma) oppose all forms of birth control.

Now.  The pharmacists.  Some pharmacists refuse to dispense it on moral grounds.  Sounds bad, but how bad it is really depends.

Let’s break this down with some of the common scenarios and my take on them.

• If the pharmacy stocks the pill, then the pharmacist should suck it up.  If it’s stocked, dispense it.  Period.
• If there are more then one pharmacists in that same store, then sure, let one of the others do it for you, but consider leaving and finding a job where the choices of products do not cause you so much dilemma.  And I would add that I fully expect you to defer to sell the pill, IUDs, condoms, spermicides and any other kind of contraceptive.  If you want this moral ground, you had damn well better be consistent.
• If a pharmacy decides to not stock it at all, sorry, the customer does not have a right to demand a product, except by the force of their business.  They vote with their wallets and take their business elsewhere.

It’s as easy as that.  Of course, it is never as easy as that.

The WaPo has this to say:

Plan B Use Surges, And So Does Controversy