Belief-Based Plan B Side Effects

No comment:

Sadie Fields is director of the Georgia Christian Alliance, formerly the state's branch of the Christian Coalition before splitting with the national group. She said she fears using drugs like Plan B unsupervised could be dangerous.

"Obviously, we don't like anything that interferes in the beginning of life," Fields said. "But I think that women's health concerns should be on that list also.

"There's no drug that does something so dramatic that is not going to have some dangerous potential side effects."

Okay, not a comment, but a question. I realize the role of a reporter is not [necessarily] that of an educator. So I can understand why the reporter, upon hearing Ms. Fields'--hmm, how should I put this politely--uninformed musings, didn't try to educate her on the basics. But then, if you're not going to use ignorance as a teaching opportunity, what's the reason for printing this type of quote? It's pure nonsense. It's the equivalent of asking a little kid their opinion on Plan B, and then reporting her statement on dinosaurs and the magic pill. How exactly is that relevant or newsworthy?

UPDATE:

The article linked in the post details the story of a Georgia woman who was refused Plan B at her local Kroger store. Today I noticed this follow-up:

ATLANTA - Kroger Co. said Friday it was reiterating its drug policies to all of its pharmacists after a Georgia woman claimed she was denied the so-called "morning after" pill at one of the company's stores.

The Cincinnati-based grocery chain said if its pharmacists object to fulfilling a request, the store must "make accommodations to have that prescription filled for our customer."

"We believe that medication is a private patient matter," said Meghan Glynn, a Kroger spokeswoman. "Our role as a pharmacy operator is to furnish medication in accordance with the doctor's prescription or as requested by a patient."

Good.