…and this is a 
He doesn't know me very well, does he?
Category: Reproduction
Posted on: September 15, 2008 4:35 PM, by PZ Myers
I get all kinds of personal requests — requests to flog someone's blog, links to articles people think are really neat, that kind of thing. I don't mind at all. If you think I'd be interested, go ahead, drop me a line. But, you know, I would appreciate it if you at least had the courtesy to actually look at my interests and send me stuff I might like, instead of random spam.
Mike Koelzer did not have those kinds of manners. Mike Koelzer really screwed up. This is the email Mike Koelzer sent me.
My name is Mike Koelzer and I am the owner of Kay Pharmacy in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
I thought you might be interested in seeing the recent coverage on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson of our pharmacy's policy to not sell contraceptives. You will find the link to the ABC video at www.prolifepharmacy.com.
Ours is a very important story on the abortifacient properties of birth control pills and why we no longer carry them in our third-generation, family-owned pharmacy.
I would enjoy speaking at your church or your organization's conference or other event. I also would be honored to have you share my apostolate in your blog etc. To learn more about my apostolate, please see www.prolifepharmacy.com
Mike Koelzer is very proud of his ignorance and his priggish desire to control the sexual behavior of his customers; I think Mike Koelzer is a contemptible, sanctimonious ass, and I hope he goes out of business. Please, if you live in Grand Rapids, boycott Kay Pharmacy. If Mike Koelzer comes to your town to speak in some demented fundagelical church, feel free to picket and protest, and feel free to attend and grill him with difficult questions.
If Mike Koelzer is not comfortable fulfilling his responsibilities as a pharmacist, he should seek some other line of work.
Remember Mike Koelzer, though. This is what they want. They aren't going to stop with simply limiting access to abortions: next they'll be eliminating all family planning options.
The pharmacy has a customer satisfaction survey. Help them get better informed!
Politics
Comments
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | September 15, 2008 4:41 PM
He wants to speak at your Church though PZ. Come on. Humor the man and invite him.
Posted by: Luke | September 15, 2008 4:43 PM
Maybe there's a higher profit margin on condoms?
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead | September 15, 2008 4:43 PM
You mean the one in the deep water off New Zealand where the giant squid are? Lovely place for Mr. Koelzer to speak.
Posted by: sailor | September 15, 2008 4:44 PM
Yes, and in case it has not yet been mentioned on this blog, Palin, when she was mayor signed off on an order that made rape vitcims pay for their own rape kits.
Of course if pharmacists thought that rape victims must have asked for it to be raped, they presumably could also refuse to sell such kits.
Posted by: Luke | September 15, 2008 4:47 PM
Abortifacient: Today's prize word! Congratulations, Mr. Koelzer, you've won $50!
Posted by: Sastra | September 15, 2008 4:47 PM
Mike Koelzer hurt his big toe! Some blog must have dropped on it.
Posted by: Ferrous Patella | September 15, 2008 4:48 PM
Grand Rapids, MI? Home of Zondervan Bibles. I don't think he is going out of business over this.
Posted by: Patricia | September 15, 2008 4:49 PM
I'd be delighted to have him come to Our Lady of Pharyngula and give the congregation his best sermon!
Posted by: LotharLoo | September 15, 2008 4:50 PM
Yet another instance of "What the hell was my spam bot thinking?" category.
Posted by: SC | September 15, 2008 4:51 PM
OK, this is entirely tangential to this important topic, but the title of and introduction to the post reminded me of a first-person article this week in the Chronicle of Higher Ed by a journal editor. She was saying that possibly the biggest mistake people make when submitting articles is not being informed enough about the journal - submitting an article that doesn't really fit, not citing recent work in the journal that pertains to the manuscript's subject, etc. So the message is: It's worth it to spend some time investigating a journal before sending off your submission. (This may not be as relevant in the sciences, but for anyone else reading...)
Posted by: Dean | September 15, 2008 4:55 PM
I teach in Grand Rapids, but am glad to say I do not have to live in the city.
However, views like this are quite strong here and, if it can believed, stronger still in nearby Holland. Holland is a quaint little Dutch town where any two people who are not blond-haired and blue-eyed constitute a "gang" in the eyes of the residents.
This region is the birthplace of the man who founded and runs Blackwater, so these positions are not unusual.
Posted by: MikeM | September 15, 2008 4:55 PM
Cthulhu is watching you, Mr. Koelzer.
Posted by: FastLane | September 15, 2008 4:58 PM
I wonder how he'd feel if the grocery stores in his area all became kosher and he couldn't get bacon for his Mcbreakfast anymore?
I'm guessing there'd be wailing and whining about others imposing their beliefs on the poor, persecuted xians....with nary a hint of irony or self awareness, mind you.
Cheers.
Posted by: MikeM | September 15, 2008 4:58 PM
More witchcraft fun in the Congo... Only 16 people died this time.
Posted by: Glen Davidson | September 15, 2008 5:00 PM
Invite him to speak at this:
Could be interesting, if they'd have him. Not likely to help his business, however.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Posted by: Becca | September 15, 2008 5:02 PM
You think Grand Rapids is bad, try Delton.
Posted by: Prof MTH | September 15, 2008 5:02 PM
From an ABC article in which the fucktard was interviewed:
His website does not list any other
pro-lifeAnti-choice pharmacies. His site is designed to generate speaking revenue for himself. So he is an ego-maniacal, misogynistic, Napoleonic, gangrenous, enlarged prostrate with diarrhea.I wonder if he sells cancer drugs. They too are "arbortifacient". They kill cells with the human genome that replicate and grow.
Women need to stop menstruating too. (I sure most would be happy about that.) After all, menstruation kills roughly 40% of all proto-persons created every year. That damn divine curse placed upon Eve by Yhwh! What a genocidal motherfucker to kill that many proto-people!!
Posted by: Ryan F Stello | September 15, 2008 5:03 PM
I'm wondering why Repuglicans like these try to cram every anti-sex position under "pro-life".
I'm thinking it's because they don't know how to brand a media-friendly version of "Pro-discouraging-people-from-using-their-naughty-bits-for-anything-besides-waste-disposal".
Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | September 15, 2008 5:06 PM
You think Mike doesn't know you? Huh.
The other day my grandmother asked me, a person who has done the better part of 17 years or tertiary study in science and law ,"which of those nice partners at your firm do you do the typing for?"...and no she's not demented, just a dyed in the wool Catholic who thinks all women should be at home in the kitchen having twelve children and I'm an uppity prig who is devaluing womanhood.
**sighs and feels much better because of rant. Thankyou for listening**
Posted by: scrabcake | September 15, 2008 5:08 PM
"We grow good people in our small towns!"
Posted by: Prof MTH | September 15, 2008 5:08 PM
Posted by: El Herring | September 15, 2008 5:10 PM
I'll make it a point to travel all the way from Bimingham England to Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, just to boycott his store! It's now on my "To do" list.
But seriously...
PZ, did you reply directly to his email and personally give him some direct experience of your scathing godless wit? If not, how could you resist? And if you did (as I'm sure you did), could you share it with us? I need a good laugh.
Posted by: Rev Matt | September 15, 2008 5:15 PM
@Prof MTH: I'm no math surgeon, but I'm pretty sure that menstruation results in something a lot closer to 95% or more potential voters not being birthed. 40% implies that more than half the months of the year the average woman gets preggers...
Posted by: B. Scott Andersen | September 15, 2008 5:17 PM
What happens if Christian Scientists buy ALL the pharmacies?
Sure, it's all fun and games until somebody needs a heart medication prescription refilled!
Posted by: SC | September 15, 2008 5:17 PM
This looks like a useful site about emergency contraception, by the way:
http://ec.princeton.edu/questions/dose.html
BoSOM - You're married. You shouldn't be working at all! :)
Posted by: Owlmirror | September 15, 2008 5:22 PM
They're both correct. Homoousios, remember?
Posted by: Opisthokont | September 15, 2008 5:24 PM
From the Web site that he invites us to visit: "He lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his wife and nine children." Obviously he does not care for birth control...!
Posted by: Rey Fox | September 15, 2008 5:27 PM
Thank heaven I have a pharmacy I can go to now for cold medicine and not have to be in the same store as abootifacients!
Actually, might anyone want to speak up on what commonly-found drug store items are potential abortifacients? Does this drug store sell pennyroyal tea, by any chance?
Posted by: Randomfactor | September 15, 2008 5:28 PM
I've long maintained that the way to deal with such pharmacists is to patronize their establishments. Get ten or twenty folks, each with a valid birth-control prescription, and line up at the pharmacist's window. Present the scrip and ask for it to be filled. If rejected, politely take the scrip back, and join the end of the line. Repeat as long as you have patience.
If any of the pharmacy's regular customers need service on that day, they can join the lengthening queue and wait their turns. If the "pharmacist" confiscates the scrip to prevent you from returning, file a formal complaint with the appropriate state agency.
Posted by: Paul Burnett | September 15, 2008 5:28 PM
I wonder if Mr. Koelzer carries any supplies for lactating mothers in his pharmacy? Because there is a well-known correlation between nursing and not conceiving. As there is with exercise and not conceiving. As there is with dieting and not conceiving. (Somebody had a somewhat snarky article on this a month or two ago...?)
Mr. Koelzer should also urgently reconsider some of his other pharmacy supplies, as there are a significant percentage of prescription medications which have side effects which include contraception.
Posted by: Rey Fox | September 15, 2008 5:29 PM
"Abootifacient"...that's how Canadians say "abortfacient".
Also, the title of this post should be "He don't know me vewwy well, do he?"
Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | September 15, 2008 5:29 PM
SC
That's what I keep telling Mr Shrek- really a good wife shouldn't be working. Personally I feel I'm much more suited to 11 am rises, pink gins at lunchtime and ogling the pool boy while reading the latest Jackie Collins soft porn ...but the bank has this weird thing about wanting the mortgage paid so....
Posted by: Margaret | September 15, 2008 5:37 PM
Prof MTH: "Women need to stop menstruating too. (I sure most would be happy about that.)"
I wish. Any month now. I guess I've killed about 39x12 = 468 proto-persons so far.
Posted by: Dianne | September 15, 2008 5:37 PM
Off topic: PZ, you weren't in NYC riding the PATH to Newark today were you? There was a guy sitting across from me who looked so much like your picture that I was tempted to ask if he were you. But it seemed so inherently unlikely. He was probably your evil twin the fundamentalist.
Posted by: joel | September 15, 2008 5:38 PM
I live in Grand Rapids, it's a nice city and home to one of the best breweries in the world (Founders). But it sure is a conservative city overall.
I've never been to Kay Pharmacy and I never will, but I'll be sure to "spread the word" about this story.
cheers
Posted by: skyotter | September 15, 2008 5:39 PM
file under "be careful what you wish for"?
Posted by: Wehaf | September 15, 2008 5:45 PM
To Rev Matt - ProfMTH is referring to the fact that something like 40% of *fertilized* eggs result in non-implantation or miscarriage. If you count non-fertilized eggs, as you seem to be suggesting, the number does indeed go way up. See: http://www.geocities.com/preconceivedbabies/
Posted by: andrew | September 15, 2008 5:49 PM
"He lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his wife and nine children."
Well there's your problem....
Posted by: Dean | September 15, 2008 5:51 PM
Re scrabcake:
"We grow good people in our small towns!"
It is sad, but Grand Rapids is the second-largest city in Michigan, with roughly 200 thousand folks. It is large enough for the loony owner of this pharmacy and a good number of other conservative "family values" type businesses and schools.
Posted by: Skwee | September 15, 2008 5:53 PM
It sounds like a spambot.
Posted by: Diluted Reality | September 15, 2008 5:55 PM
It makes you wonder how many pharmacy's like Mr. Koelzer's there are out there. Is there a website that exposes these types of pharmacy's?(I'll have to search google for one) I'd hate to be unknowingly supporting an ass like Mike Koelzer!
Posted by: andrew | September 15, 2008 5:55 PM
....email sent expressing my feelings.
I'd suggest we all let Mr. Koelzer know that his worldview isn't shared by all in a respectful, yet firm, manner.
speaker@prolifepharmacy.com
Posted by: Longtime Lurker | September 15, 2008 5:56 PM
I imagine birth control pills are a potent lampricide as well!
Invite him to speak, Tentacled Overlord, and see how long he lasts in teh lionz denn.
Posted by: Joe | September 15, 2008 5:57 PM
Thats what I don't understand about the pro-lifers.
I mean they don't want abortions...fine. here is a method that could dramatically affect the number of abortions in the world, and THEY ARE AGAINST IT.
I don't get it. birth control pills don't kill a baby, they specifically keep it from forming to begin with.
WTF?!
Posted by: Holbach | September 15, 2008 5:57 PM
He wants to share his apostolate in your blog, etc? No doubt he wants to make you an apostle, so that you can spread the news that Pharyngula has found jebus and we will no longer cater to the rational hordes who chew up on the demented religionists. By all means let him come on this site with the ruse that we are all born again and have seen the light and will spread him out, er, I mean spread his mission (snicker) to convert the godless into submission. For shits sake, bring him on! Apostles of doom!
Posted by: Robin Zebrowski | September 15, 2008 5:58 PM
This guy just wanted to give a real-life demonstration of the amount of thought and research he gives to these sorts of topics. Sure, he'll stake his life on it, but he won't actually LEARN about it first.
Seems completely consistent to me.
Posted by: Brigit | September 15, 2008 5:59 PM
Bride of Shrek OM @19,
My dad made this whole tirade a month ago because I got Implanon inserted. I'm 26, and doing fucking victory dances because this BC gives me the pleasure of no periods for 3 years!
According to him, I'm doing the equivalent of shooting babies with a shotgun. sigh. Catholic parents ftl.
Posted by: David in NY | September 15, 2008 6:01 PM
As I recall, in about 1974, the Southern Baptist Convention issues a position paper supporting abortion. Then the right wing Republicans (not particularly religious themselves) grabbed onto the abortion-religion combo and climbed into power with it. Sickening.
Posted by: Jay Hovah | September 15, 2008 6:03 PM
Randomfactor | September 15, 2008 5:28 PM
I like the cut of your jib...thanks for the idea!
Posted by: mjs | September 15, 2008 6:03 PM
How many Christian churches would tolerate a minister or pastor who was "not comfortable" with preaching certain parts of the bible, i.e. miracle birth, a dying and resurrected god, angry-god crime scenes, etc.
"Dear Congregation: I was going to speak about Noah and the Flood for today's sermon, but I find that this story is at odds with what I know of recorded and scientifically discovered history. Yes, the earth was covered in water at one time, but that was millions of years ago, not six or eight thousand years ago, and for all of the land animals to have boarded one giant ark, well, can you say "overbooking?" That being said, I would like all of you to make use of the Holy Water Pistols I have had placed next to the hymnals. You may begin spraying each other now..."
Let's go to church and demand that they "Teach the Controversy!" Or not. Probably not.
++++
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | September 15, 2008 6:03 PM
Coincidentally, a well known Atheist party game.
Posted by: JStein | September 15, 2008 6:12 PM
This is bad, man. I mean, I know he's ignorance, but that would be like me sending a link to a Richard Dawkins interview to the Pope. It's just really, really stupid.
Posted by: Fluffybunnyfeet | September 15, 2008 6:14 PM
Oh FSM, oh FSM, oh FSM...
I'm TOTALLY ashamed to say, I live in Bland Vapids - in fact, I drive regularly past Fucktard's small... insignificant... about-to-be-wiped-out-by-major-chain-stores... drug emporium. Now I must visit your honorable blog ONLY with my Grand-Rapids-issue Meijers paper bag over my head.
I'm SOOOOO ashamed...
Posted by: JRQ | September 15, 2008 6:15 PM
"Please, if you live in Grand Rapids, boycott Kay Pharmacy. "
Will do -- many thanks for the heads-up. Just moved to Grand Rapids and still getting used to the area.
It's funny, we were warned about how conservative (and religious) the city and its surrounds are, and we've definitely seen a ton of that. But at the same time, we've also found a surprising quantity of progressive causes and activities going on as well. Thankfully, GR is big enough to accommodate some variety (in the city itself, at least). Overall, it is pretty nice for a small/medium-ish city in the midwest.
Posted by: andrew | September 15, 2008 6:16 PM
interestingly, CDK007 posted a video just yesterday on this very topic: is god pro-life?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfbERKwNszU
Posted by: verster@zest4.tv | September 15, 2008 6:18 PM
Sure the guy is a douche-bag, but surely you can't force a business owner to carry a product that he doesn't want to sell.
Posted by: Wehaf | September 15, 2008 6:18 PM
Joe @ 44 - that's because the anti-choicers don't care about babies, they care about controlling women.
Posted by: SoMG | September 15, 2008 6:20 PM
I just visited the Pharmacists for Life website. (http://www.pfli.org/) You'd expect a professional pharmacists' organization to have a serious-looking web site and to discuss its issues in a professional manner, right? Not this one. They repeatedly refer to Obama as "Barrie Hussein." They call pro-choicers "abortoholics". And they refer to Planned Parenthood as "Klan Parenthood".
What a bunch of little kids.
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | September 15, 2008 6:20 PM
I had a good time in Grand Rapids once.
Was proselytized on the way out though...
Posted by: terrylong | September 15, 2008 6:20 PM
The mark of the beast will be a cross.
Posted by: Becca | September 15, 2008 6:26 PM
Yeah, Grand Rapids is not full of evil, but this guy is certainly not a lone kook.
Of course, I might just miss Meijers and the brewery.
I know I miss Circle Pines. You wanna see opposite ends of the political spectrum, check out the naked hippies there and compare them to the townies of Delton.
Grand Rapids makes everyone seem middle-of-the-road by comparison.
Posted by: Jeff Bell | September 15, 2008 6:26 PM
Is the title from Bugs Bunny?
http://faultgame.com/images/bbdntknw.wav
Posted by: Patricia | September 15, 2008 6:26 PM
Bride of Shrek - What?! Slutting, beating back the pythons from the chook rook, dandling the little terrors on your knee, looking out for his nibs, AND you have to work! That's just too much. Damn bankers. *snort*
Posted by: Wehaf | September 15, 2008 6:31 PM
Verster @ 56 - you can if he's a pharmacist. Or, at least, you should be able to if he's a pharmacist. This is because pharmacists need to be nationally licensed, and have a monopoly. They are like other healthcare providers, in that they shouldn't be able to refuse care for anything other than medical reasons. So wacko anti-choice pharmacists shouldn't get to refuse to provide contraceptives, and wacko Scientologist pharmacists shouldn't get to refuse to provide anti-depressants or anti-psychotics, and wacko Christian Scientist pharmacists shouldn't get to refuse all medications. Pharmacists are licensed by the state to perform a service. If they don't want to perform that service, they should find another job, like anyone else.
Posted by: frog | September 15, 2008 6:31 PM
verster@zest4.tv Sure the guy is a douche-bag, but surely you can't force a business owner to carry a product that he doesn't want to sell.
You sure as hell can when he's received a state license to sell medications. If he doesn't want to sell bc, he can send back his pharmacist's license and just sell liquor and breath mints.
Being a pharmacist is not just a private business, just like being an MD isn't just a private consultation; these are public/private positions with certain duties that go along with the privilege.
Posted by: dwarf zebu | September 15, 2008 6:32 PM
I certainly hope that Mr. Koetzler isn't filling any prescriptions for fertility drugs, either. Even though he might argue that the wholly babble doesn't have anything to say about such things, neither does it mention abortion.
If it's wrong to circumvent his god's will by aborting unborn children, it's no less wrong to go behind his god's back by using medical technology to have kids that wouldn't be born without it!
Posted by: AR | September 15, 2008 6:36 PM
For Viagra buyers, does he demand a marriage certificate, or a wedding ring on the finger? He shouldn't enable fornication, should he?
Posted by: Prof MTH | September 15, 2008 6:37 PM
MDs and DDSs are not allowed to refuse treatment to homosexuals or AIDs patients, for example. A DDS who does so can lose his/her license. Why are pharmacists allowed a veto exception?
Incidentally, if a pharmacist confiscates a prescription or refuses to refer the person to a pharmacist known to fill the prescription they may be fined and/or lose his/her license as required by court rulings.
Posted by: Anne | September 15, 2008 6:39 PM
Joe @ 44
It's not really about protecting embryos or unborn babies. They do not care about them once they're born and they certainly don't care about poor, unwed mothers.
To the fundies pregnancy, birth and parenting are punishment for enjoying sex. For these wackaloons the *only* reason anyone should mate is for the production of a child.
If you're pregnant because of rape, well, too bad, you probably deserved it in their minds.
Posted by: Greg Peterson | September 15, 2008 6:40 PM
I am an atheist and a liberal and I describe myself as "pro-choice and anti-abortion."
I know a lot of my fellow liberal/atheist buds don't like it, but the fact is, I feel that purely elective abortions after the first term are morally compromised (and if the pregnancy is from rape or incest or threatens the health of the mother, that is not "purely elective").
That's just my moral sense of things and I don't want it to be the law of the land. I want the wide availability of safe, legal abortions to be the law of the land.
But for me, and others with a similar view, the pro-choice/anti-abortion position depends entirely on good education, no or low-cost contraception (including emergency contraception) and an enlightened attitude toward sexuality.
If these fetus-worshipping dolts hold sway, we will remain locked forever in an ethically repugnant battle. And the only result will be unwanted children, back-alley abortions, and frankly, lots more anal sex (as one study on the effects of abstenance-only education found).
So perhaps a neato campaign T-shirt for Palin and her ilk would be "Back-Alley Abortionist B***f**kers for Palin."
Posted by: Michael X | September 15, 2008 6:43 PM
verster, this simply isn't any ol' business. It's a regulated profession. They are required to be competent in and to perform a very specific set of duties or they don't get to be called pharmacists.
A pharmacists job description is: correctly doling out prescriptions made by doctors and informing the people on how they should be properly used. Nowhere in that job description is there a by-line that allows the pharmacist to refuse the doctors prescription based on their own delusions. That is a blatant abuse of position and nowhere is it included in the duties and responsibilities of any pharmacist, anywhere.
As PZ mentioned. If you don't like to give out certain prescriptions, then you shouldn't be a pharmacist. Period.
Posted by: andyo | September 15, 2008 6:51 PM
He probably thinks you're the conservative's Onion. I mean who could possibly "believe" in evolution and not a super-natural super-hero sky daddy? It's got to be a parody!
Posted by: coz | September 15, 2008 6:53 PM
Brigit #47
I got Implanon inserted 2 years ago in Sydney, Australia, cost $29.
I live in Arizona now and people are surprised at such a thing. I hope I can find a doc here who will remove it when the time comes.
Sadly I'm not one of the lucky few that skips periods. It looked promising at the start now its just random and usually painful...*sigh*.
But still worth 3 years of stress free sex...woot! and not having to deal with wankers.
I really like living in the States, but it still scares me sometimes.
Posted by: Greta Christina | September 15, 2008 6:54 PM
Seriously.
I mean, whatever else you may say about the Jesus character in the New Testament Gospel novels -- and I'll grant that he's a complicated, often internally- contradictory character -- at least the dude had the courage of his convictions, and was willing to make sacrifices for them. Maybe a little too willing.
But not this jerkbag. He wants to stick with his principles and refuse to make birth control available... AND he wants to keep his job as a pharmacist while doing it. He wants to have his cake and eat it, too. Not exactly "WWJD?" material.
Posted by: Buford | September 15, 2008 6:56 PM
If any of you offering your opinions on the legal position of pharmacies have expertise, I'd like to know it. (That seems more confrontational than I meant, but on to the main point)
I work for a non-profit HMO and we have our own pharmacies in our clinics. (I work in IT, not RX) We have recieved good press in the last few years for NOT providing Vioxx and other drugs that have been recalled. We maintain a pharmacy board that evaluates drugs and their safety before including them in our company pharmacies. The drugs in question had not met our standards.
This would point to some legal rights in terms of what to sell and what not to.
Posted by: Kristin | September 15, 2008 6:59 PM
I'm tired of pharmacists thinking they are doctors.
The best comparison of this guy's type of attitude I've heard was as follows:
It's like going into a Burger King, ordering a hamburger, and having the clerk refuse because they believe that "meat is murder." If you then ask for someone else to serve you, they say "nope, that would be aiding the murder of a defenseless animal."
So basically, you walk into an establishment that advertises itself as selling hamburgers, and are refused service because of the employee's personal beliefs. If your beliefs conflict with the base purpose of your employers, don't work there. Plain and simple, you belong in a different field of work.
If you work in a pharmacy, your job is to fill prescriptions, regardless of what they are. If you work in a restaurant, your job is to bring people food, regardless of what they order.
That being said, I'm ok with the 'I'll find someone else to do it' policy that some pharmacies have, as long as my prescription gets filled by someone.
Posted by: SC | September 15, 2008 6:59 PM
Awesome set list. I think I'll put on China Cat/I Know You Rider as soon as Coffin for Head of State
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMr_GUD_III
ends (it's rather long).
Posted by: Rey Fox | September 15, 2008 7:00 PM
">>I'm doing the equivalent of shooting babies with a shotgun. "
"Coincidentally, a well known Atheist party game.
That's terrible. TERRIBLE!
By the time you got all the shot out, you'd barely have any meat left!
"So perhaps a neato campaign T-shirt for Palin and her ilk would be "Back-Alley Abortionist B***f**kers for Palin."
I'd prefer a shirt that just says "McCain/Palin" inside a big wire clothes hanger. But then I'm big on subtlety.
Posted by: Michael X | September 15, 2008 7:08 PM
Buford@75,
I think the situations are different, though still problematic.
In your case the pharmacy withheld products on the empirical grounds that they were actually harmful. This is a statement that can be tested. The pharmacist in question withheld products on account of personal, untestable, delusion. In your case, the empirical element is what everything hinges on.
I do still have issues though with the fact that a doctor is being overridden. This is for two reasons, either 1)Someone is needlessly butting into a private decision made between a doctor and a patient or 2)Doctors are ignorant of all the facts about what it is that they are prescribing.
Neither of those situations seems ideal.
Posted by: Pete Rooke | September 15, 2008 7:09 PM
Nothing like destroying another person's livelihood is there Dr. Myers? First the wife of a harmless husband who got carried away sending you an angry letter and now a principled family pharmacist..
Posted by: Owlmirror | September 15, 2008 7:10 PM
As I often try to when this sort of thing comes up, I point to Carl Sagan's & Ann Druyan's thoughtful essay on the topic.
http://www.2think.org/abortion.shtml
But in summary, the first trimester is most certainly not the most reasonable cutoff point.
Posted by: hje | September 15, 2008 7:20 PM
No birth control, but free Viagra for all the dominionist patriarchs. As they say: An idle penis is the devil's tool. /so to speak/
Posted by: Michael X | September 15, 2008 7:21 PM
Angry letter Pete? I believe the correct term is threat of violence.
Also, if you wouldn't mind defining "principled" for me. I have yet to reconcile it with the idea arrogantly refusing prescriptions to people on no rational grounds whatsoever.
I'm sure you'll clear that up for me.
Posted by: Patricia | September 15, 2008 7:27 PM
Pete go back to the basement and fantasise about dashing little ones on rocks.
Posted by: N.B. | September 15, 2008 7:32 PM
Arrrrrgh. Come on, people! Stop making my chosen profession look bad!
PZ, I swear all pharmacists aren't like this.
Posted by: todthemod | September 15, 2008 7:47 PM
Re comment #80:
John McCain, is that you?
Posted by: Pimientita | September 15, 2008 7:48 PM
@Greg Peterson
Right on!
I am also in the pro-choice/anti-abortion position. However, like you, I know that the only way to reduce the need for abortions is to reduce unwanted pregnancy in a realistic fashion, which does not mean deluding ourselves into thinking that abstinence education works, that limiting the availability of contraceptives works, etc. Being against something without offering a realistic solution seems to be a major problem with some conservative thinking (immigration and the GWOT are two good examples).
The hypocrisy and misogyny of the "pro-life" movement is becoming ever more apparent. It's been crystal clear to me from the get-go, but with the more prominent religious organizations speaking out more and more against birth control of any kind, more people are beginning to get the real picture.
Posted by: Brigit | September 15, 2008 7:50 PM
Coz@73,
I got it a month and a half ago, and up to now no problems. I sucked at taking the Pill constantly; having no concerns of that type had a huge positive impact in my sex life. Yay for carefree sex! Mr. Brigit used to make a period "rain dance" to hope it would arrive in time!
My prescription was covered by insurance, but I'm in grad school and the university clinic tends to be helpful in that regard. For removal, you can check if www.implanon-usa.com has a list of licensed physicians.
Posted by: SC | September 15, 2008 7:58 PM