Recently, a woman shared a baffling and upsetting story about how she was seemingly denied access to birth control after trying to get it from her local Walgreens. The story, uploaded to TikTok, has gone viral and sparked a great deal of outrage .
TikToker Abigail Martin ( @abigailmartin ) posted her story late last week, and it has since gained nearly a million views.
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She titled the video, “I am so beyond pissed at our country right now.”
She begins the story by explaining that she’d received an automated text from her Walgreens telling her to renew her birth control, but she wanted to wait a few days.
But when the day came, it said she had no refills left.
Abigail then explains that she’d already met with her provider for her refills for the year, so she should still have some left. She tries calling Walgreens, but then decides to go in instead.
“So I go into Walgreens, and I don’t want to be biased against any religion, but the lady who was helping me…”
“She was older… and she had two crosses, not one, but two crosses hanging around her neck.”
Then, when Abigail told the woman what she was there for, “she looks me up and down and goes, ‘hmm.'”
“She then says, ‘yeah, we’re not going to refill that prescription, you need to call your provider.'”
Abigail asks the woman if they “can’t” or “won’t,” refill the prescription, to which the woman just tells her to call the provider.
The provider tells Abigail that she has four refills left.
She gets more messages, these ones saying that the prescription is delayed, and then out of stock. So Abigail calls Walgreens again, and this time has a much more positive experience.
The woman who helped Abigail the second time filled the prescription no problem, but asked who was helping her the first time.
According to Abigail, that Walgreens has been having problems providing birth control for the last two weeks.
“So first, they want us to stop getting pregnant and having abortions, and then they don’t want to help us prevent that pregnancy.”
The timing coincides with the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe vs. Wade on June 24th.
The ruling, which happened June 24, deemed that there is no longer a constitutional right to an abortion , which effectively banned the healthcare practice in multiple states.
On top of this, the right to contraceptives may be in danger as well.
Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the Justices who voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade, has also expressed interest in bringing other cases into question , including Griswold v. Connecticut, which relates to contraceptive rights.
Other people have also posted about issues they’ve had while buying contraceptives at Walgreens.
In a Twitter thread, @natepentz talks about how a Walgreens employee denied his wife condoms on the basis of religion, which was cause for outrage and embarrassment for the couple.
In Abigail’s case, the comments sided with her, and expressed outrage against the employee.
One commenter wrote, “I would be LIVID. That is medication that your provider prescribed. She is attempting to practice medicine without a license.”
Another pointed out that “Many people take the [birth control] pill for reasons other than contraceptive.”
At the end of the day, regardless of why someone needs a contraceptive pill, it’s none of that woman’s business (or anyone’s, for that matter).
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
