In recent news, three women have filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart, that colossal big-box chain that is largely responsible for the ever-expanding trade deficit we share with China. What prompted these women to file suit was the failure by Wal-Mart to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception, better known as the morning-after pill.

By failing to carry the pill and saying that they could not/would not order it, the Massachusetts women, who are supported by Planned Parenthood and other reproductive rights groups, allege Wal-Mart may be in violation of state law. Wal-Mart, for their part, says that the morning-after pill is not a commonly prescribed medication, and therefore is not economically advantageous.

What’s the real reason the big-box conglomerate refuses to carry this pill in all states except for Illinois where law has been passed requiring it of them? I have a hard time buying the fact that it is solely due to business factors reduced down to profit. Take, for example, Jon Stewart’s recent book, America: The Book: A Citizens Guide to Democracy in Action. Wal-Mart declined to shelf the book after it learned of doctored photos – heads on the bodies of others – of the Supreme Court justices naked.

Wal-Mart found this objectionable, and said that they thought the majority of their customers would disapprove as well. But, did they ask their customers? Did they let their customers make their own decision to pass on the purchase of the book? No. Wal-Mart went ahead and made the decision for the customer, and the same thing can be said about emergency contraception.

If Wal-Mart passes up the chance to sell a book that became wildly popular, making other retailers a large sum of money, they will have no qualms about not stocking an already controversial pill based on moral issues, or what they think their customers will approve or disapprove of. Wal-Mart has decided, like so many other businesses, and especially pharmacies, that when it comes to birth control it is better to force one’s own moral judgment on customers than to let them make their own choices.

What this lawsuit should really bring to the forefront of peoples minds, is the ever-growing attempt by the government et al, to regulate the reproductive rights of women. More and more companies are doing just what Wal-Mart has done, and that is to limit the choices women have when deciding when and where they choose to procreate. And by going along with this, we the public, are basically giving them the right to manage our sex lives. The view that this drug is being used by mainly irresponsible, promiscuous women, who go out and have “drunk hook-up sex”, is nothing if not asinine. Many are in monogamous relationships that encounter such mishaps as condoms breaking, and are not ready for a child. Also, we need to bear in mind that this drug does not induce abortion; it prevents fertilization that might or might not have taken place.

Any suggestion that a pill like this be pushed out of the private sector and under government control screams of inanity. If the government had its way the morning-after pill would never exist, even though it has been deemed safe, and many other countries have made it widely available over the counter, without a prescription. Something about a government run mostly by men deciding anything about the reproductive rights of women scares me. This is the same government who presided over the Katrina disaster, somehow I don’t see the handing out of a pill that needs to be taken with 72 hours to take effect, going smoothly.  

It’s time we stop trying to impose the moral beliefs of any religious system into legislation: what Jesus would do should have no effect on which laws are passed; just because the President is a Christian doesn’t mean we should all go out and convert to agree with faith based initiatives. It is the 21st century and the very fact that men in Washington and men behind pharmacy counters are trying to tell women what they can and can’t do with their bodies smacks of some kind of puritanical system we are supposed to be rid of. As we try to convince other countries to give their women more rights and freedoms, maybe we should take a closer look at ourselves.

Brock Kingsley is a sophomore in English. He can be reached at [email protected].