CBS News on the Drugstore War
 

November 25 2004
Counterbias.com
Steve Horowitz

"I don’t sell condoms. I don't sell foams. I don't sell creams," says pharmacist Lloyd Duplantis of Gray, La. "I don't sell anything to do with contraception."

Lloyd, a devout Catholic, doesn't fill birth control pill prescriptions, either. To him, it's a matter of personal freedom -- his store, his choice. "I want everyone to have freedom of choice to help them achieve what they want," is how he puts it, the perfect example being new mother Idalia Moran, whose doctor warned her not to get pregnant again for at least two years. Her freedom of choice now requires her to drive 30 miles from Lloyd's store to achieve what she wants -- birth control pills that could keep her from dying.

Tuesday night's CBS Evening News report showed once again how America's Christian Taliban feels increasingly free to impose it's personal views on the rest of us -- at the expense, if necessary, of a young mother's health.

But why shouldn't they feel that way? In order to secure their votes, George Bush consistently panders to their basest bigotries, encouraging them to think their "values" are so important, so universal, that we should all embrace them. Regardless of the cost in spirits crushed, dignity denied, rights ignored, lives endangered.

You'd rather have a healthy physical relationship with your husband than risk death from pregnancy? Fuck you, my values are better.

You'd rather manage your kids' religious training yourself than have them forced to pray in school? Fuck you, my values are better.

You think you're entitled to a loving, long-term relationship even though you're gay? Fuck you, my values are better.

The Supreme Court affirmed the right to privacy in marital relations, including birth control matters, almost four decades ago. But that was before -- and one of the instigations of -- the rise of the values fascists. They are flush with power and self-righteousness today because a small, ignorant politician saw a chance to pretend he stands for something in the eyes of small, ignorant voters.

The rest of us had better rise to the threat from people like Lloyd and his president. Before the America we thought we lived in -- the land of real freedom, not the fuck-you kind -- becomes Iran with different holidays.