
You’re probably familiar with the anecdotal evidence of select pharmacists across the country refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control. But an article in today’s issue of The Washington Post discusses how some pharmacies are taking this troubling trend one step further by refusing to carry contraceptives at all.
One strand of the argument in support of pharmacies’ “right” to refuse certain medications is that stores should be able to exclude any products they choose, and pharmacists should not have to do anything that violates their personal points of view.
But we have come to expect that pharmacists, as health care professionals, place the health and well-being of their clients above their own political ideology. And what about women’s right to receive adequate, and equal care? As Marcia Greenberg from the National Women’s Law Center told the Post, “Contraception is essential for women’s health. A pharmacy like this is walling off an essential part of health care. That could endanger women’s health.”
Another strand of the argument against the widespread availability of contraception says that consumers can simply go elsewhere to have their birth control prescriptions filled. That may well be the case in cities and large towns with a plethora of pharmacies. But what about women who live in areas with fewer pharmacies from which to choose? The Post quotes R. Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin bioethicist who says,
We may find ourselves with whole regions of the country where virtually every pharmacy follows these limiting, discriminatory policies and women are unable to access legal, physician-prescribed medications. …We’re talking about creating a separate universe of pharmacies that puts women at a disadvantage.
And even if women are able to fill their prescriptions at another local pharmacy, what about the women who are so humiliated at being turned away from a pharmacy that they are afraid to even try their luck at other pharmacies? And what about women seeking the morning-after pill, who could lose vital hours in searching for a drugstore that provides this most basic service of filling a prescription?
While some states have laws that allow pharmacists to refuse to fill certain prescriptions (one wonders whether other medications, like Viagra, ever meet pharmacists’ refusal), California, New Jersey, Illinois, and Washington have passed legislation requiring pharmacists to either fill prescriptions or help women fill them elsewhere.
I doubt these anti-choice pharmacies would provide any such service. Even so, it could be too little, too late.
By Tara Sweeney