Sierra Club endorses contraceptive-access bill

Sierra Club California has endorsed a bill, SB 644, sponsored by Sen. Debra Ortiz of Sacramento, which would make contraceptives available to California women when "morality police" pharmacists refuse to fill their prescriptions.

But, wait a minute!! - Don't California women - indeed all American women - have easy access to contraceptives? Not in this political climate!

Since the Weldon amendment was quietly inserted into the Omnibus Bill last fall and passed without debate, it is legal to refuse women either information or referrals for ending pregnancies. Now, it seems, it is even legal to withhold the means of preventing unintended pregnancies.

Women appearing at a pharmacist's counter seeking to obtain birth-control pills, or emergency-contraception pills might be met by pharmacists who claim that religious beliefs prevent them from filling such prescriptions. A woman coming to a pharmacist's counter might receive a stern moral lecture, instead of birth control pills. It is disturbing that four states have already approved bills that allow pharmacists to do this, and 23 states are considering such legislation.

Ortiz's bill makes allowances for pharmacists with such beliefs. But SB 644 makes it mandatory that pharmacists who object to filling certain prescriptions notify their employers in writing when they're hired. The pharmacies would then be required to have someone else on hand to fill those "objectionable" prescriptions, or refer customers to a nearby pharmacy.

It is not clear at this time whether those same moral police/pharmacists will refuse to fill prescriptions for Viagra or AIDS-treatment medicines.

Why is the Sierra Club interested in insuring women's access to contraception? Forty years ago the fertility rate of the U.S. was four children per woman. Without chemical contraception, the population of the U.S. would have grown much faster than it has, and today's population would be more than twice what it is today. The present birth rate of California is 2.4 children per couple, far above replacement level, and is one of the major contributors to the population growth of our state. Rapid population growth impacts air quality, water availability, wetlands, farmland, traffic congestion, and global warming, and rapidly outgrows planning for livable communities.

All of us should be aware of the far-reaching impacts of denying women the means of preventing unintended pregnancies. If the Ortiz bill passes, California will again be the "bellwether" state, encouraging other states to follow suit in protecting the rights of women and recognizing that to do so also protects our environment.

Joan Jones Holtz and Karen Gaia Pitts, Sierra Club California Population Committee