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October 2007
by Janet Blanding
The continued right to reproductive freedom is looking bleaker and bleaker for women in the United States. Buoyed by recent victories both locally and nationally, the anti-choice movement is turning up the heat, with organized, well-funded efforts to suppress not only a woman’s right to abortion, but to prevent everyone’s access to birth control.
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September 2007
On July 26, 2006, the owners of local grocery store/pharmacy Ralph’s Thriftway filed a lawsuit against the state of Washington’s Board of Pharmacy and Human Rights Commission in federal court. The complaint, filed on behalf of Stormans, Inc. and two pharmacists who are not employees of Ralph’s, contends that newly adopted state administrative codes that require pharmacies to fill prescriptions without discrimination violate the “Plaintiffs’ unalienable right of conscience on matters of religious and moral conviction free of government coercion.”
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September 2007
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After having been refused emergency contraception at Raph's, Sarah and Jen complete paperwork and file complaints with the Department of Health, (photo by Janet Blanding)
Photo taken at the picket on August 29.
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September 2007
Three pregnant boycotters, Rachel Smith, Debora Hughes and Keylee Marineau boycotting outside of Ralph's (photo by Janet Blanding)
Photo taken at the picket on August 29.
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September 2007
Protesters outside Ralph's (Photo by Rob Whitlock);
Photo taken at the picket on August 29.
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September 2007
Daisy, Marty and April doing paperwork at Ralph's (Photo by Diana Arens).
Photo taken at the picket on August 29.
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September 2007
After being refused Plan B at Ralph's Thriftway pharmacy, James Brenneman mails a complaint to the Department of Health. (photo by Phoebe Blanding)
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May 2007
by Janet Blanding
A recent Board of Pharmacy decision to adopt new rules requiring pharmacies to fill all prescriptions means a different kind of Judgment Day is looming for the owners of Ralph's Thriftway Pharmacy.
Soon, the Pharmacy Board will be deciding what disciplinary action is appropriate for Ralph's, based on its flagrant refusal to conform to state pharmacy regulations. Ralph's Thriftway (along with its sister store, Bayview Thriftway) has been the object of a community boycott since July 2006, due to its refusal to carry emergency contraception, supposedly "for moral reasons."
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May 2007
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Clea Partridge and others picketing outside Ralph's Thriftway. (Photo by Jim Mayfield)
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January 2007
by Janet Blanding
The boycott of Ralph's and Bayview is working. Financial losses at the stores are putting pressure on Stormans Inc. to change their discriminatory policy against stocking Plan B emergency contraception. While the Pharmacy Board investigates complaints filed by Olympia women who were unable to fill prescriptions at four local pharmacies last summer, three out of four of those pharmacies are now stocking the morning after pill. The sole holdout: Ralph's Thriftway.
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October 2006
by Janet Blanding
The boycott of Ralph's and Bayview continues. While both the Washington State Board of Pharmacy and the FDA have taken steps to ensure women's access to emergency contraception, the situation for women in Olympia has not improved. Although Kevin Stormans told Olympian reporter Brad Shannon that he would be re-evaluating his policy regarding stocking Plan B in Ralph's Thriftway Pharmacy, no actual policy change has occurred, and the many community members who value their reproductive rights continue to boycott. Plan B Oly, an ad hoc coalition of feminists and pro-birth control . . .
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September 2006
by Janet Blanding
The FDA broadened access to Plan B for many women with its decision to allow over-the-counter acquisition by women 18 years and over. If Plan B were now available in gas stations and 7/11s, access would no longer be an issue and continuing to boycott would be more a matter of ideology than practicality. However, Plan B will not be as broadly available as Advil or Alka-Seltzer; although a prescription is no longer required, it will be available only in pharmacies, and it will still be kept behind the counter. Women will have to present ID proving they are 18 or over before they . . .
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August 2006
by Janet Blanding
Protecting the rights of medical consumers to have their prescriptions filled promptly is looking more promising at state level, but locally, Olympia women are still facing hurdles in having their legal prescriptions filled. The Washington State Board of Pharmacy, in an apparent response to intense negative public reaction, has decided to revise its proposed rule that would allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for any reason, including reasons of "conscience." The owners of Ralph's Thriftway and Bayview Thriftway, however, have proven less responsive to the . . .
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August 2006
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Protesters demand birth control. (Photo by Krista Theiss)
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August 2006
Alysia Angel expresses her feelings about mixing medicine and religion.
(photo by Krista Theiss)
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July 2006
by Janet Blanding
The Suppression of Women's Rights. Ralph's and Bayview shoppers are paying to support a backwards attitude towards women's, and everyone's, reproductive rights. Not content to merely keep the condoms under lock and key, Ralph's Thriftway is refusing to stock emergency contraception. Initially represented to several community members as a business decision, Kevin Stormans, vice president of Stormans Incorporated, changed his story for media interviews with The Olympian and Seattle television stations by calling this policy a "moral" decision. He characterizes it as an issue . . .
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June 2006
by Janet Blanding
Who should be involved in deciding what form of birth control a woman uses? She should, certainly. Her partner? He has a role to play; he should be able to voice an opinion. Her doctor? A health care provider might share information as to what would be appropriate. Her pharmacist? Maybe, if there's a drug interaction of which she should be aware. God? Sure, if you're into that sort of thing. The owner of her local grocery store? I don't think so.
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