{"id":2464,"date":"2015-07-30T13:12:20","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T19:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=2464"},"modified":"2016-01-22T08:11:25","modified_gmt":"2016-01-22T14:11:25","slug":"walgreens-and-planned-parenthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html","title":{"rendered":"Walgreens and Planned Parenthood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Yes, I know, and odd juxtaposition, but bear with me.<\/p>\n

From the Walgreens annual report<\/a>, p. 5:<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Company\u2019s drugstores are engaged in the retail sale of prescription and non-prescription drugs and general\u00a0merchandise. General merchandise includes, among other things, convenience and fresh foods, household items,\u00a0personal care, beauty care, photofinishing and candy. Prescription drugs represent the Company\u2019s largest product\u00a0class, followed by general merchandise and non-prescription drugs. In fiscal 2014, 2013 and 2012, prescription\u00a0drugs represented 64%, 63% and 63% of total sales, respectively, general merchandise represented 26%, 27%\u00a0and 25% of total sales, respectively, and non-prescription drugs represented 10%, 10% and 12% of total sales,\u00a0respectively.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, if you look at the total square footage in a Walgreens given over to various products, this isn\u2019t what you\u2019d expect. \u00a0As you make your way over to the pharmacy, you pass the greeting cards, the makeup, the cheap appliances, the junky toys, school supplies, as well as the aforementioned personal care and beauty care (which, as far as I can tell, are not available in any greater selection or any cheaper price than the grocery store).<\/p>\n

At the same time, that\u2019s a statistic with respect to total sales. \u00a0One imagines that the general merchandise is lower in total sales but provides a higher proportion when looked at in terms of profit \u2014 after all, the objective is to get you to spend as you walk past all these items on the way to the pharmacy, or while you\u2019re waiting for your prescription to be processed. \u00a0How much the general merchandise exceeds pharmacy in profitability I don\u2019t know; Crain\u2019s confirms the fact but without actual statistics here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A second prong of Walgreen\u2019s strategy for boosting profit margins emphasizes nondrug merchandise, known as \u201cfront-end sales\u201d in the business. Such goods \u2014 the candy bars, shaving cream, nail polish and other sundries found on Walgreen store shelves, including cigarettes \u2014 generally carry higher profit margins than drugs.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You see where I\u2019m going with this, don\u2019t you, given the title of this post?<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood repeatedly says that 3% of their services are abortions.* \u00a0I\u2019ve read in various sources that a part of what they do is count each constituent part of a visit as a different \u201cservice\u201d \u2014 writing a prescription for pills, birth control counseling, a general gyne exam, etc. \u00a0But what is Planned Parenthood really, fundamentally, about?<\/p>\n

They say \u201cwomen\u2019s health\u201d \u2014 but, as the authors in this National Review symposium point out<\/a>, sliding-scale community health clinics do a far better job of caring for women\u2019s (and men\u2019s) health.<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood, from its inception, has been about reducing births via contraception and, later, abortion. \u00a0That\u2019s it\u2019s core competency, if you will. \u00a0If we imagine that tax money given to them will further women\u2019s health, then we ought, indeed, to be redirecting it to sliding-scale clinics, which, even post-Obamacare, have plenty of clients who can\u2019t afford their deductibles. \u00a0 The health of low-income Americans could be helped greatly if more funds allowed these clinics to expand.<\/p>\n

If, on the other hand, the policy\u00a0goal is to reduce pregnancies, well, then freestanding specialty clinics might be the way to go, in the same way as Third World countries reportedly complain that their clinics are well-stocked with condoms and contraceptive pills but short on antibiotics. \u00a0(Though, even then, there\u2019s no reason not to require that the abortion business be truly spun off, as Wesley J Smith suggested last week<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

(* I wanted to verify this via their annual report, but they\u2019ve taken their site down \u201cfor maintenance.\u201d \u00a0 Reportedly, at least earlier today, they\u2019d been claiming the site was down due to hacking; The Federalist says<\/a> all evidence points to this being a hoax.)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, I know, and odd juxtaposition, but bear with me. From the Walgreens annual report, p. 5: \u00a0The Company\u2019s drugstores are engaged in the retail sale of prescription and non-prescription drugs and general\u00a0merchandise. General merchandise includes, among other things, convenience and fresh foods, household items,\u00a0personal care, beauty care, photofinishing and candy. Prescription drugs represent the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[198,265],"class_list":["post-2464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abortion","tag-planned-parenthood"],"yoast_head":"\nWalgreens and Planned Parenthood<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yes, I know, and odd juxtaposition, but bear with me. From the Walgreens annual report, p. 5: \u00a0The Company\u2019s drugstores are engaged in the retail sale of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walgreens and Planned Parenthood\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yes, I know, and odd juxtaposition, but bear with me. From the Walgreens annual report, p. 5: \u00a0The Company\u2019s drugstores are engaged in the retail sale of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-30T19:12:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-22T14:11:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html\",\"name\":\"Walgreens and Planned Parenthood\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-30T19:12:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-22T14:11:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"Yes, I know, and odd juxtaposition, but bear with me. From the Walgreens annual report, p. 5: \u00a0The Company\u2019s drugstores are engaged in the retail sale of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Walgreens and Planned Parenthood\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Walgreens and Planned Parenthood","description":"Yes, I know, and odd juxtaposition, but bear with me. From the Walgreens annual report, p. 5: \u00a0The Company\u2019s drugstores are engaged in the retail sale of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Walgreens and Planned Parenthood","og_description":"Yes, I know, and odd juxtaposition, but bear with me. From the Walgreens annual report, p. 5: \u00a0The Company\u2019s drugstores are engaged in the retail sale of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2015-07-30T19:12:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-22T14:11:25+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html","name":"Walgreens and Planned Parenthood","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-07-30T19:12:20+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-22T14:11:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"Yes, I know, and odd juxtaposition, but bear with me. From the Walgreens annual report, p. 5: \u00a0The Company\u2019s drugstores are engaged in the retail sale of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/07\/walgreens-and-planned-parenthood.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Walgreens and Planned Parenthood"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}