In the final spring issue of The Daily Campus, an investigative report titled ‘A Prescription for Trouble’ ran on the front page. In the story, reporter Allison Denman wrote about the SMU Memorial Health Center’s shortage of doctors willing to prescribe the Morning-After Pill, also known as Plan B, due to personal beliefs. Denman reported Dr. Nancy Merill as the only available physician on staff to provide the pill.

Denman recounted one female student’s emotionally painful visit to the Health Center, the day after she was raped, where Dr. Shannon Sims denied her the emergency contraception. Dr. Sims did refer the student to the Dr. Merill, who prescribed the student the pill after she retold the events of her attack.

Like all stories published in the Daily Campus, this one was uploaded onto the home website www.smudailycampus.com. Since the story ran on May 2, fifteen comments have been posted beneath the story. A few denounce the Denman’s reporting skills, which is expected whenever someone’s dirty laundry is exposed, but most were outraged by the fact that a doctor can deny a patient the Morning-After Pill based on his or her religious beliefs. Here’s one excerpt from a posted comment: “Her professional responsibility is the well being of her patients and her personal religious beliefs should stay out of the workplace.”

While Ed Board realizes doctors have beliefs and values, Ed Board thinks those views should not infringe on a patient’s right to choose the Plan B Method. Ed Board believes a doctor has two main responsibilities to a patient: a medical evaluation of the patient and his or her knowledge of treatment available. Once the doctor has provided all the medical information and background about the available treatments, the patient should then make a decision.

Before beginning their practice, doctors should have a firm understanding of what moral dilemmas may be encountered, such as prescribing emergency contraception. Once they have explored their personal morals, they should then form a set of medical morals. Of course, their medical morals should not compromise legal standards. Common sense comes into play when choosing a place to work.

If a physician does not support or prescribe any form of birth control, Ed Board thinks a college campus is not a place where that doctor can fulfill the community’s needs. Can you think of a place where sex is more rampant than on college campuses? Okay, maybe in Amsterdam’s Red Light district.

Many SMU students rely on the Health Center to provide them with the care they need. If a doctor cannot provide a student with his or her needs, then it’s time for that doctor to relocate.