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May 24, 2005

Refusal clauses only refuse women's humanity

This article shows just how damaging refusal clauses can be to women, and how much power they give crusaders in white coats.

A Wal-Mart pharmacist spat at raped women that they don't kill babies. A pharmacists told a grown woman who needs the Pill to treat heavy and painful periods that he wouldn't fill the perscription unless she brought ber husband (she's single). Otherwise, they might go out and have sex or something. Not that I see these concerns about men who get Viagra.

In fact, when it comes to Viagra, "pro-life" pharmacists aren't refusing them on the basis of immoral sex and telling them to bring their wives with them. They aren't refusing the scrips because there is the potential for rape and they won't promote rape. They aren't asking these men why they need it, they aren't holding the prescriptions until they can run a background check--heck, it's a man's right to get laid whenever he wants.

Even if it's not consensual. We can refuse EC and birth control to women, but convicted sex offenders can get Viagra paid for by Medicaid (hat tip: Psuedo-Adrienne).

A federal agency has begun notifying all 50 states that they don't have to offer Medicaid-funded Viagra to sex offenders, a step taken after it was discovered that more than 400 convicted sex offenders in New York and Florida were reimbursed for the erectile dysfunction drug.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acted swiftly Monday, one day after the New York comptroller's office said audits from 2000 through March found that 198 rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in the state received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after their convictions.

Their crimes included offenses against children as young as 2, Comptroller Alan Hevesi said. The report sent the Bush administration scrambling to find a way to close the loophole.

Rapists can get Viagra, and up until recently they could get it for free. No pharmacists ask them about their intentions when they get it, no pharmacist insists that they bring their wives to prove that they aren't out having random sex or raping people. But rape survivors can't get EC because that's killing babies.

Fill My Pills Now provides more information on the issue of the refusal clause, as well as report cards on state policies and pharmacies.

Posted by at May 24, 2005 04:49 AM