As customers casually shopped for toothpaste at CVS/pharmacy on Friday evening, the store became the grounds for a feminist flash mob when nearly 60 people marched in objection to the Obama administration’s appeal on the federal court’s decision to put the morning-after pill over the counter with no restrictions.
Members of Gainesville Women’s Liberation and other local residents chanted, placed two real packages and several makeshift boxes of Plan B One-Step on the shelves next to condoms and listened to spokeswoman Stephanie Seguin explain the action.
“The idea is to send a message to the Obama administration to stop the appeal of the lawsuit and let Judge Korman’s ruling stand,” Seguin said. “If they’re not going to put the morning-after pill over the counter, then we’re going to do it ourselves.”
The Gainesville Women’s Liberation has been working for a decade to overturn the morning-after pill restrictions. The 2005 case Tummino v. Hamburg fought the Food and Drug Administration and Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to restrict access to emergency contraception.
On April 5, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman ordered that it be made available to women and girls “without a prescription and without point-of-sale or age restrictions within 30 days,” according to a news release by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.
Instead of complying with the court’s order, the government announced April 30 that women and girls were still expected to present government-issued ID in order to obtain the pill, preventing over-the-counter access, according to the release. Korman denied the Obama administration’s motion to stay his order.
“We’re trying to build momentum around the country to build the feminist movement to pressure the Obama administration,” National Women’s Liberation founder Candi Churchill said. “But it’s really not about CVS — it’s just a place to do it.”
This event was part of the week of action led by the New York and Gainesville chapters of the National Women’s Liberation. Others like it occurred in cities such as New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Churchill explained that the action was meant to be quick but dramatic.
“We’re trying to make the point that they’re keeping this perfectly safe form of birth control from us for no legitimate reason,” she said. “They’re treating this drug in a sexist way compared to condoms and other forms of medicine and health that people need.”
Less than 10 minutes after entering the pharmacy on Friday, the group of protesters left peacefully — just as employees began calling the police.
“I can’t believe we’re still fighting for this,” Seguin said. “Maybe now [the Obama administration] will be more likely to listen to us. This is something women want.”
