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NEWS & LETTERS, May-June 2005

Women World Wide

by Mary Jo Grey

Women packed the sidewalk surrounding an Osco pharmacy in downtown Chicago in April to protest a pharmacist's refusal to dispense a doctor-prescribed morning-after emergency contraceptive to two women because she believed it was immoral. Illinois law allows health care providers to refuse to perform a medical service that conflicts with their beliefs. Pharmacists for Life (PFL) claims that a "huge number" are now refusing to dispense birth control pills and morning-after pills. PFL president Karen Brauer, who was fired from her K-Mart job in Ohio for refusing to dispense contraceptives, said she would happily dispense Viagra to help "a whole lot of old married men get lucky." She maintained she would never dispense emergency contraceptives even to reduce the possibility of pregnancy for rape victims.

* * *

Amnesty International renewed its call for the Slovakian government to end the illegal sterilization of Romani women without their consent. Authorities maintain that they were doing nothing wrong.

--Information from Women's Human Rights Online Bulletin

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