Not exactly a “Profile in Courage”, but at least Walgreen’s is one drugstore that’s trying to come correct.
From ABC News:
Walgreen Co. said it has put four Illinois pharmacists in the St. Louis area on unpaid leave for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception in violation of a state rule.
The four cited religious or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and “have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense, and in Illinois that is not an option,” Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said.
A rule imposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in April requires Illinois pharmacies that sell contraceptives approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to fill prescriptions for emergency birth control. Pharmacies that do not fill prescriptions for any type of contraception are not required to follow the rule.
Personally, I wish it was Walgreen’s policy, rather than state law, that prompted the disciplinary action:
Walgreen, based in Deerfield, Ill., put the four on leave Monday, Bruce said. She would not identify them. They will remain on unpaid leave “until they either decide to abide by Illinois law or relocate to another state” without such a rule or law. For example, she said, the company would be willing to help them get licensed in Missouri and they could work for Walgreen there.
Walgreen policy says pharmacists can refuse to fill prescriptions to which they are morally opposed except where state law prohibits but they must take steps to have the prescription filled by another pharmacist or store, Bruce said.
Okay, so a Walgreen’s customer in, say, Missouri can go to another store…and have another pharmacist refuse to fill it…ad infinitum.
There’s no indication that these pharmacists have any objection to filling regular birth control prescriptions…so this so-called “moral objection” is obviously based on the canard spread by the “pro-life” gang that Plan B and equivalent medications act as abortifacients, merely because they can prevent the implantation of the fertilized egg…and everyone knows that there’s no difference between a fertilized egg and a living breathing baby, after all…
It’s important that we put pressure on our state legislatures to pass legislation similar to that in Illinois…and hope that the courts don’t side with the pharmacists and make the right to birth control one with no teeth…
