A recent editorialist in my local paper claimed, “No pharmacist would refuse … a contraceptive [prescription].” I have personally fought with pharmacists to obtain contraceptives. I use contraceptives because I suffer from severe menstrual disorders. My doctor prescribed the medication to diminish the effects, but insurance wouldn’t cover it. Some pharmacists won’t fill birth control orders at all; they aren’t required to.
It is important to consider that the right thing for one woman may not be for another. The pro-choice position defends women who experience a pregnancy under any circumstances, who have the right to choose based on accurate medical information. Until a fetus reaches viability (the ability to survive outside the uterus), it is a part of the woman’s body and she may do as she chooses. If she decides that she cannot carry the pregnancy to term, she has the choice to terminate it. All options should be weighed by the woman and her doctor. At no point should a woman be judged.
Anti-choice individuals state that women who carry a pregnancy to term under horrific circumstances are brave. Those women made that choice. Their courage doesn’t negate the bravery of rape and incest survivors who have terminated resulting pregnancies. A survivor, regardless of whether she endured a rape kit, should be encouraged to make her own decisions. If she chooses to terminate a resulting pregnancy, then that should be done safely.
Some say, “It’s not the fetus’s fault.” It’s also not a woman’s fault that she suffered assault, and her needs take priority over something relying on her to exist.
This is a slippery slope on which women are losing their inherent rights. The snowball effect recalls a recent past when women were expected to smile silently through life with few career opportunities and little familial support. Women are not fetus-growing pods; they are competent humans with the right to choose.
