Wal-Mart to start selling Plan B
Wal-Mart recently got into some hot water because they decided they didn't want to carry Plan B, better known as the "morning after" pill. Several womens' rights groups and others had criticized the company, and lawsuits had been filed. While the negative publicity surrounding the issue probably isn't good for business, Wal-Mart has always marched to the beat of their own, ostensibly "family-oriented" drum. (For instance, they sell only edited CDs with no explicit lyrics.) Now they've decided that they will sell Plan B.
Personally, I don't really care what Wal-Mart does in the case of Plan B. In a capitalistic world, businesses can sell what they like, and if they choose to not sell something, well then they're the ones that have to live with the consequences, which is why I was surprised by the hue-and-cry over the Plan B thing. The only one Wal-Mart was hurting was themselves: there are other pharmacies (yes, even in rural areas) that patients can go to. What's the big deal? On the other hand, Wal-Mart is allowing their pharmacists to refuse to dispense the medication, which isn't the big deal that some would be tempted to make it out to be. You can't make a pharmacist dispense any medication if s/he has moral qualms about doing so. It's the same as the idea that you can't make an anesthesiologist participate in an execution.
[tags]Wal-Mart, Plan B[/tags]
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