Let me get this straight. A pharmacist can refuse to sell the pill, but a waitress can't refuse alcohol?

Question

If a pharmacist refuses to fill a prescription for the birth control pill, he can't be fired. I am a waitress. I can be fired if I refuse to serve a pregnant woman alcohol. I don't want to kill or harm or cause brain damage to the baby. I believe that what she's doing is morally wrong. But I can be fired. However, a pharmacist can refuse to sell a virgin the pill, even if she's only using it to regulate her periods and has no intention of using it as a form of birth control? That's a load of bull.

What do you think?

P.S. I understand that I can cut someone off if they're drunk, but I can't refuse a pregnant woman alcohol based solely on the fact that she's pregnant.

Dallas guy, that was a great answer. How often we value our everyday lives over our spiritual purity. Wow. I am totally blown away by your answer.

Sarah. I actually agree that if a pharmacist is going to have religous issues with selling a particular drug, he/she should not be a pharmacist. Now, if he/she has a problem with selling a particular drug to a particular person because the drug will do that person harm, that I can understand. My point is that scientific evidence shows that drinking while pregnant does significant damage to the fetus, while there is no evidence to prove that the pill causes monthly "abortions". And yet the government was choosing to back the pharmacists and not the waiters.

In the future I will remember Dallas' remark and simply risk my job for my morals, and I believe it will be worth it. Thank you.

Answer 1

Women have a choice remember? The other person was right. It wasn't your call. If you felt that strongly about intruding on someones morals, you should have been willing to be fired and refused to sell it to her.

Answer 2

I had to step back and think about this one using different scenarios, for some real perspective. What about Muslim cab drivers who refuse to accept patrons who've obviously been drinking too much? Should a Mormon server be able to refuse to sell alcohol, even if it's part of the job? Should an Evangelical Christian science teacher be able to refuse to teach Evolution? I guess in my mind, the answer is yes, and no. All of this hinges on the basic tenet "You're rights end where another person's rights begin." If your religion is going to conflict with your job description so much that it begins to interfere with the rights of other people so much so that it becomes a case of discrimination by turning people away from goods and services (in this case, based on what the person who is supposed to PROVIDE those services deems "fit" for the consumer), then those people need to find another job. IF, however, arrangements can be made where the person does not have to render the service, but there will ALWAYS be someone else there who can, then no harm is done. Those allowances HAVE to be made, though, and with complete consistency. EDIT--Lol! Yes, in that case, they just keep driving...I doubt the drunk person would ever know the difference!

Answer 3

Pharmacist, in certain states, can refuse can dispense a legal prescription for personal issues. This is a hot issue in pharmacy right now. This debate started when Oregon made assisted suicide legal. The people would get their medications through a pharmacy, and many pharmacists do not feel comfortable with giving medications with the expressed purpose to kill one's self. While most pharmacist will have no problems with selling birth control, there are always some who do not like it. Most pharmacists do not like laws forcing them to dispense medications on principle.
Plan B, on the federal level, is becoming behind the counter meaning either a pharmacist or other health professional can sell it to anyone over 18 without a prescription. Birth control, due to FDA rules will never become OTC or BTC because of the estrogen.

Answer 4

I think it's wrong. When I was 14 I had to be put on bc pills to regulate my cycle and alleviate painful symptoms that would have taken 2 weeks of my life every month. Were there other treatments? Of course there were! Most of them were strong narcotics that would have left me painfree but a walking zombie for those two weeks.
Anytime someone tries to take away someone's right to decide their own treatment, they're sinning. To me, that is sin... trying to impose your beliefs on another. They should address this is the schools for pharmacists - if they're going to have a problem if someone comes in to get the prescription filled. If they are going to have a problem, I think they shouldn't be pharmacists. It's part of the job. They should deal with it. This isn't a "Big Brother" society yet, but things like this make me believe it isn't that far off. And I totally get what you're saying about not wanting to serve the pregnant woman. I watched one of my sister's in law drink while pregnant at a family gathering. Finally me and another sis-in-law spoke with her. She had never heard of FAS. Her only issue was that she wasn't going to drive home, so what was the problem?

Answer 5

Hey Chris, what are the odds of a woman wearing a T-shirt that says "virgin" actually being one? d:c)

I think you have a good idea. Perhaps waitresses should be able to refuse to serve alcohol to pregnant women in accordance with their conscience.

Pharmacists, in general, are in a bit different situation. It is easy for a pharmacist to find a good job. He can often be even more successful by opening his own local pharmacy. If I own my own business, I should be able to sell and not sell as I choose. For instance, I don't know of a pharmacy, even Wal-Mart or Walgreens that carries every drug in every store. This is a choice they make to keep inventory reasonable. They have that right, not to have every drug known to man avaiable. It would not be right for the government to force them to buy a drug that the owner did not wish to purchase. Pharmacies are privately owned for the most part. Restaurant owners would not like to have government prescribed menus.

So, a pharmacist with his own store is clearly free not to stock a drug for whatever reason he sees fit. This puts the employed pharmacist in a more powerful position. If big companies, who want to chemically kill a living human being (46XY) regardless of the legality of the practice, they are going to have to find pharmacists who are willing to dispense them. (They uniformly will I predict so this will be a moot point between owners and pharmacists eventually.) But, the pharmacist may feel a little easier about leaving his job than the waitress and the employer knows it. .

So, as a waitress, you see, you can feel so strongly about serving alcohol to a pregnant woman that you would quit your job before serving it. You have that right just as a pharmacist does. But you may not be in the same economic and job market situation that he is in and may feel more pressure to go ahead and assist the woman in harming her unborn child. It's a tough life,, but we gotta live it.

Answer 6

Genevra, I totally agree with you. I need to talk to Sarah for a moment. S.A.R.A.H....focus sweetheart...Genevra is not talking about a religious issue. She is talking about a health related issue and not being a party to a pregnant woman participating in a behavior that can harm her unborn baby. Only a jerk would drink while pregnant. If a woman does not want to carry a fetus, she has the right to terminate a pregnancy. However, once she chooses to carry the pregnancy, she should not involve others in behaviors that can be potentially harmful to a fetus. If she wants to drink and drug while pregnant, others should not have to be forced to support her stupid decisions.

Answer 7

What if she was just a little pregnant and you couldn't tell? What if she's just fat and you're assuming that she's pregnant? I'm glad that Washington repealed that pharmacy thing. If a pharmacist has a problem filling a prescription on "moral" grounds then they shouldn't be in the business. If you have a problem serving alcohol on "moral" grounds then you shouldn't be in that business.

Answer 8

Oh do I wish we could get that changed!
Reminds me of the time I was the only one to speak up when our pregnant co-worker started smoking in front of everyone. No one else seemed to care, but it burned my A**!
We know that alcohol and cigarettes are harmful to the fetus, so is it only once the child is born that we protect it from child abuse? And the fact that you have to be an accessory to that "should be crime", to me, is pathetic! Is this the law, or just the policy of your employer who wants to keep all glasses full and his/her business booming?

Answer 9

The religious wouldn't care if you put cocaine, heroin, gasoline or ethyl alcohol in the glass, as long as you didn't kill the fetus.

It's not about abortion or "protecting babies". Their only concern is controlling women's lives.

Additional:

The ignorance of some people is astounding (eg. "chris" who doesn't know what a "day after" contraceptive is). If women like her were victims of rape, you can bet they'd be first in line clamouring for Plan B pills.

The woman in Lebanon PA was raped twice, the second time by a doctor.


Second additional:

If "religious beliefs" were a supposedly valid argument for not treating a rape victim, then does that make it okay for a christian doctor to refuse to treat a jew who was a victim of a neo-nazi hate crime? Would it be alright with anyone if said doctor left said jewish person to die?


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Answer 10

How do you figure a pharmacist can refuse to fill a legit prescription?

You don't think his job is on the line if he/she refuses to fill the Rx? First of all a pharmacist has no idea if a woman is a virgin or not - unless she's wearing a T-shirt that says - VIRGIN.

I sympathize with your problem....can you get support from your boss.