Wal-Mart Strikes Again

I'll admit it: I really want to like Wal-Mart. They stock just about anything you could ever want to buy, and at dirt-cheap prices. But nothing comes without its price. The cost of shopping at Wal-Mart? Well, among claims of poor healthcare for their workers and sexual discrimination, Wal-Mart is also not stocking emergency contraception (EC), one of the most fundamentally important drugs for women.

Emergency contraception is distributed in a variety of combinations, including the name brand EC known as "Plan B." It should not be confused with RU-486, which is a pill that induces an abortion. Emergency contraception stops a pregnancy from occurring in the first place, therefore eradicating the need for an abortion altogether. EC works one of two ways: it either stops an egg from being released by the woman's ovary, or, if an egg has already been released, it alters the uterine lining so that a fertlized egg cannot implant and become a pregnancy. EC is a time-sensitive drug; it is most effective right after the unprotected intercourse (when a condom breaks, a woman is raped, or a situation in which both partners are intoxicated and not using proper judgment regarding birth control), and becomes less effective over time. If taken within 48 hours, it is very effective, but its efficacy drops off sharply after 72 hours.

As most unprotected sex acts tend to occur on the weekends--Friday and Saturday nights--when doctors' offices are typically closed (even Planned Parenthood's hours are curtailed on Saturdays and generally closed on Sundays), it is critical that when women finally do get a prescription for EC, they are able to get the prescription filled as soon as possible.

This is what makes Wal-Mart's decision to not stock emergency contraception in its stores (except for those in Illinois, which are required to stock EC by state law) so distressing. I can only conclude that the people behind this decision are so removed from the reality of what women go through--how men and women can together make a mistake that puts women's lives--as they know them and want them to be--in jeopardy. EC can take women out of this agonizing position--but only if pharmacies do not add unnecessary hurdles to women's access to emergency contraception.

Source:
"Women Sue Wal-Mart Over Contraception," CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/02/01/walmart.contraception.ap/index.html