NEWS: Stuart E. Anderson of Great Falls, Montana: Asshole

CULTURE: Stuart E. Anderson of Great Falls, Montana: Asshole

On Mother's Day, this ad appeared in the Great Falls Tribune.

The ad reads:

You'll be unsurprised to find out that a week and a half later, when a woman went in to Snyder Drugs, which is owned by the Anderson family (one of the signatories to the ad), she was handed this note instead of her prescription:

The note says

Interestingly, the story doesn't appear to have been covered in the Great Falls Tribune, the paper that carried the ad; the only place I've found mention of it is on the Montana Netroots blog. Being as the author of the Montana Netroots post is a guy,* he gets distracted by the issue of property rights--

--but hey, credit for noticing.

The real issue here is that Stuart E. Anderson, R.Ph, is a registered pharmacist and Snyder Drugs is a pharmacy. Which is to say, Mr. Anderson and his business are licensed by the state to dispense prescribed medications.

Which they are refusing to do.

Now, why are they refusing to dispense medications that are prescribed only to women? It isn't because oral contraceptives cause abortion--they don't. It isn't because they can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg, either, because while that may be theoretically possible, there's no evidence that oral contraceptives actually work that way--as a registered pharmacist surely knows.

I can only assume, then, that it's because Stuart E. Anderson and the co-owners of Snyder Drugs, Kurt and Kori Depner, are sexist jackasses who think that their license to dispense drugs is less important than their god-given right to pass judgment on women.

I hope that the State of Montana respects their choice by taking away Mr. Anderson's pharmacist's license and his and the Depner's right to own a pharmacy.

*This is what is known as "hyperbole." Also "black humor."

Bitch_PhD doesn't think that the reasons the woman with the prescription needed the scrip were relevant, so she's not mentioning them.

Cross-posted at Bitch PhD

shit i agree, their licenses and right to won a pharmacy should be taken away. what a bunch of morons!

and i thought pharmacists who didn't carry plan b were bad.
this guy is in a class of his own.

i bet he still sells condoms, though.

Believe it or not, not everyone makes it to the end. This might work better as the opening sentence.

Oh wait...

See!? They're trying to destroy the fucking world! Being against abortion is one thing, but prevention all together?!
They want to see this planet overpopulated, gassed, farmed to a barren waste!
I swear they want the apocalypse to come.

That's a good way to lose a lot of business, fast.
Even though I'm not on any form of birth control, I wouldn't take any of my prescriptions there anymore.

Sometimes I think there might be a sensible message in your articles, but then I read the OMG ALL THIS IS MOTIVATED BY HATRED OF WOMEN part and remember that the odds on what I'm reading being remotely representative of the facts is terribly slim, and I can't believe a word you've written, because you've been proven to be so blindingly biased so many times. I really, really, think you would reach a much bigger audience, and find a much more receptive audience, if you could just sit down, do some research, and do your best to write a balanced article.

It is an issue of property rights. A woman can do what she wishes with her body. A pharmacist can do what he or she wishes with his or her pharmacy.

Should we also complain that vegetarians refuse to sell meat in their grocery stores?

If this pharmacist is willing to have business suffer at the expense of some idiotic moral ideal, then by all fucking means. Yeah, it's inconvient for the women who had been purchasing their birth control there, but since when does anyone have a right to convienence?

Furthermore, having a license to do something does not meannyou have to do it.

Pharmacists are a component of drug regulation, not a business in the normal sense. The government restricts RX only drugs, making them impossible to just get. To allow the citizenry to maintain access to the controlled medications which they need, doctors send patients to pharmacists, which are more or less licensed dispatch centers for the government regulated goods. The doctor makes the call on what medication the patients need, the patients receive it via the pharmacy. The middleman does not get a say in the health of an individual. A better analogy to your vegan grocer would be that allowing a pharmacy to withhold treatment is rather like a nurse who refuses to medicate the patient as the doctor has ordered.

For the most part I agree fully with rampage121584... however, looking at both sides of the issue, I think you could make a case that refusing to fill a prescription constitutes practicing medicine without a medical license.

couldn't have said it better myself

If we allow a Southern Baptist-run pharmacy to withhold birth control, maybe we should start licensing Scientologist pharmacists to withhold anti-depressants, or licensing Christian scientists to withhold everything but holy water.

I disagree with their choice, I agree with anyone who would do longer shop there- but I completely disagree with the notion that it would be a good thing for the state to take away their license.

The law and politics are sledgehammers. Simple social and market action can be more of a scalpel, and accomplish the same results far more gracefully. If you're afraid to allow this individual to be censured through other people's individual choices, it implies to me that you have very little respect for personal freedom... except when it suits you.

which ENTIRELY neglects the issue that someone outside of a major city might only have access to a single pharmacy.

No, withholding treatment is just completely unethical. If they want to impose their religious ethics, the should have become pastors or politicians.

Okay. I am finished.

That, or we don't have faith in the perfect functioning of economists 'invisible hand' arguments, particularly when it endangers people's health.

Okay. Done. Leaving. For real.

I bet this guy is going to start doing back door basement abortion, and what better way to kick off a new business like that than take away the towns contraceptives....whats next no condoms?? STD's and babies for all in the town of Great Falls, Montana.

folks, this is coming from Montana. Crazy shit like this is required by state law there.

I will show my disgust by never shopping there again.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, another Bitch_PhD article, another gaggle of people exposing their ignorance to the rampant anti-feminism inherent in Western culture.

Oh yeah, but it's worse "OVER THERE" so it must be just fine here.

Kudos on bringing this one up, Bitch_PhD, because this type of thing is happening in a lot of places. An acquaintance of mine who actually has medical need for her particular birth control prescription had this happen to her, and it was extremely traumatic.

That's right, Junior Free-Marketers, women don't only take oral contraceptives so they can fuck like minks. Sometimes doctors prescribe it for other stuff. Guess who doesn't know the difference: pharmacists.

So they need to do their job, or quit and do something else if they feel it interferes with their morality.

I think there's a difference between a pro-lifer and a sexist. That said, pro-lifers usually busy themselves with abortion rather than contraception, and I'm also curious to know if they sell condoms.

Here in Alberta, it actually just started that pharmacists now have prescribing power. I believe it's the first time anywhere for this kind of "scope of practice". But you know other areas will likely now follow. They can actually refuse a doctor's rx, obviously with sound reasoning needed.

I am pro-choice, but believe they are business people who can run their company as they see fit. Some pharmacies choose not to sell cigarettes because they see it as a conflict of interest. Others probably sell smokes just so they can increase their healthcare sales.

when i open my comic book store, i'm not carrying any fucking manga