Just as Regent University was founded to churn out God’s legal team, we’ve got Union, Lipscomb and Belmont ready to pop out morning after pill-opposing, Gardasil-hating, birth-control-is-the-same-as-abortion-believing pharmacists. The fundamentalist Christian worldview is not one shared by the majority of Americans, but by hook or by crook they will impose their belief system on you. Whether you agree with it or not.
Don’t for a moment think this won’t be very, very bad for women’s health. In a state like Tennessee, which is predominantly rural, there simply is not the plethora of pharmacy choices that one finds in urban areas. Come to think of it, with increasing corporatization, urban areas are losing out in that respect, too. Competition used to be a hallmark of the free market economy, but not anymore. Everything is Wal-mart and Walgreen’s these days.
Don’t even start that “free hand of the market” crap with me. That’s a fantasy that Ayn Rand sold on a bunch of idealists too naive to realize they were being pressed into the service of Acme Holdings, Inc. In the global economy, there is no free hand of the market, there’s a jackboot ready to kick citizens into submission. When one corporation has grown into the world’s largest retailer and America’s largest private employer, the notion of any “free hand of the market” is an adolescent fantasy.
And don’t for a moment underestimate what this means for us politically.
Because sure as the GOP used anti-choice and anti-gay-marriage state amendments to flog their base to the polls every four years, we’re going to start seeing “conscience clause” legislation work its way through the state legislatures. You can count on it. I used to wonder what this crowd would do once they'd played out flag-waving, abortion, and gay-bashing. But the truth is, they'll never run out of issues. There's always going to be one more issue that appeals to the lizard brain of the American mind.
Just in time for mid-terms in 2010. Why is that important? Because 2010 is a census year, which determines each state’s Congressional seats:
Federal law requires the Clerk of the House to notify each state government of its entitled number of seats no later than January 25 of the year immediately following the census. After seats have been reapportioned, each state determines the boundaries of Congressional districts—geographical areas within the state of approximately equal population—in a process called redistricting.
Yes, elections do have consequences--even in off-years.
There is no “Christian worldview” of the law, and there is no “Christian worldview” of the pharmacy. The only “worldview” is in the hands of the consumer. If you think birth control equals murder, then don’t use it. If you don’t think you can in good conscience dispense birth control, or morning after pills, or anything else, then find another line of work. There’s no “opt-out” option here. There aren’t too many vegans working at the butcher shop at Kroger, are there? See any Scientologists working as psychotherapists? How about Mormons working at beer distributorships?
To the fundamentalist Christians I say: you cannot force your beliefs on other people. To the Republican Party I say: You cannot keep manipulating your way into a Republican majority. These issues are deeply interconnected to me. And to both groups I say: this will backfire on you, miserably.
