Massachusetts to Force Wal-Mart to Carry "Morning After" Pill

From Brietbart/AP with a hat tip to RightNation.

The unanimous decision by the pharmacy board comes two weeks after three women, backed by abortion rights groups, sued Bentonville, Ark.- based Wal-Mart for failing to carry the drug in its 44 Wal-Marts and four Sam's Club stores in Massachusetts.

The women had argued that state policy requires pharmacies to provide all "commonly prescribed medicines."

The morning-after pill provides a high dose of hormones that women can take up to five days after sex to prevent pregnancy. Some abortion opponents believe emergency contraception is a form of abortion because it blocks the fertilized egg from being implanted on the uterine wall.

In the wake of the Katrina disaster, we saw how well-equipped our different levels of government were at providing needed products and services. At the same time that people were stranded on rooftops because of local government failures, and water and food were being blocked from reaching stranded victims in the Superdome and elsewhere by state government failures, the evil Wal-Mart Corporation was making things happen. It was said by more than a few that the people of the delta would have been better served if Wal-Mart (evil) had coordinated the entire non-rescue, disaster relief effort.

Why? Because in the aftermath of a disaster, Wal-Mart did not have to deal with government red-tape and bureaucratic regulations--they were able to get things done without having to check with 25 lawyers before someone could make a decision. By the time that lawyer A and B had contacted lawyer C, Wal-Mart already had trucks of water and supplies on the road.

Since what should have been a clarifying moment took place for the whole world to see on television, the state of Maryland has passed legislation to harness Wal-Mart with state mandated benefit fee levels, and now Massachusetts has mandated that Wal-Mart carry products that it does not want to carry.

It should not be the government's job to dictate what products a company carries any more than it should dictate a benefits package for employees.

With this now mandated product on the shelves, is Wal-Mart relieved of any liability should someone die after taking a morning-after pill purchased from them? I'm just guessing, but your average trial lawyer might be able to sniff out some pretty deep pockets here. I'm not even sure that the leftists have thought of this angle, but they might well be contributing to higher profits for a company that wants to drive all the other pharmacies in the state out of business! Maybe the state should consider limiting what Wal-Mart can sell--just to make it fair.

I suppose its possible I'm just overlooking the long range wisdom of all this. Maybe the plan is to slowly take over all day-to-day operations of Wal-Mart nationwide. That way, if another natural disaster hits, the government won't look nearly so bad in comparison. Who knows, with enough of big-brother's involvement, next time it might be a fleet of empty Wal-Mart delivery trucks that gets flooded out instead of just a fleet of empty buses.

No, on second thought, I'm pretty sure they would both get flooded.