Wal-Mart Agrees To Stock and Sell Emergency Contraception "Without Discrimination or Delay"

Technorati Tags: emergency contraception, Wal-Mart, Planned Parenthood, reproductive rights, women's health

Via Echidne, Wal-Mart has changed its policy on emergency contraception:

An e-mail from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America just informed us that Walmart has signed on to the Planned Parenthood policy on emergency contraception. This policy means the following (quoting from the e-mail). The stores will:

Ensure that customers receive their prescriptions or OTC products in-store, without discrimination (no harassment or lectures), without delay, without judgment or regard for the number of refills prescribed or, in the case of OTC products requested.

Stock emergency contraception in every store in which one or more customers request the product.

Ensure timely access to out-of-stock medication by offering to order the medication or refer the customer to another pharmacy that stocks the medication.

Circulate and enforce these policy and procedures corporation-wide.

This is truly huge news, and it would not have happened without massive, prolonged pressure on Wal-Mart from reproductive rights organizations and countless individual women's rights activists.