For Immediate Release:
Media Contact: Andrea Gage
414-213-3717 (cell)

Planned Parenthood Activists Get Wal-Mart to Change Its Birth Control Policy at Pharmacies
Emergency Contraception Will Be Stocked and Dispensed Without Discrimination or Delay

Madison, WI- In response to Planned Parenthood’s massive grassroots advocacy campaign “Fill My Pills Now,” Wal-Mart notified Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) Wednesday that it has revised its nationwide corporate policy with regard to emergency contraception. The new Wal-Mart policy ensures customers “will now receive their prescriptions or over-the-counter products in store without discrimination (no harassment or lectures),” “without delay,” and “without judgment,” according to the Planned Parenthood survey that Wal-Mart returned to PPFA.

“This is a huge victory for women’s health,” said Lisa Boyce, vice president of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin. “We join activists and advocates all over the country in thanking Wal-Mart for changing its policy to meet women’s real-life health care needs.”

Birth control denials are a disturbing trend that jeopardizes women’s health and safety. There have been several incidents in Wisconsin, including one at a Milwaukee Walgreens in 2005. PPAWI rallied in front of the pharmacy and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin CEO Jim Stewart wrote a letter to Walgreens Chairman and CEO David W. Bernauer calling on the company to ensure that no woman faced discrimination or delay when obtaining a prescription.

Another prominent birth control denial case may end up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Neil Noesen, the pharmacist who refused to fill and transfer a woman’s birth control prescription at a Menomonie K-Mart in July 2002, has appealed the Pharmacy Examining Board’s (PEB) disciplinary ruling. PPAWI and NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin filed a friend of the court in February 2007, urging the Court of Appeals to uphold the PEB’s decision.

“As we continue the fight to preserve women’s rights to receive their prescriptions, we want to remind them that they can always turn to Planned Parenthood for birth control — including emergency contraception — and all their reproductive health care needs,” said Boyce.

For more information on pharmacy refusals, including a state-by-state guide to major pharmacy chains and their policies regarding access to birth control, please visit www.fillmypillsnow.org and www.plannedparenthood.org.

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Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin is the advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI). The mission of PPWI is to empower all individuals to manage their sexual and reproductive health through direct services, education, and advocacy.  http://www.ppawi.org