They're BACK!! ! YET AGAIN. Pharmacists who refuse to sell the 'morning after pill". What should be done?

Question

Why do these people become pharmacists in the first damn place, ugh!

SEATTLE - A federal judge has suspended Washington state's requirement that pharmacists sell "morning-after" birth control pills, a victory for druggists who claim their moral objections to the drug are being bulldozed by the government...Critics consider the pill tantamount to abortion, although it is different from the abortion pill RU-486 and has no effect on women who already are pregnant...."On the issue of free exercise of religion alone, the evidence before the court convinces it that plaintiffs ... have demonstrated both a likelihood of success on the merits and the possibility of irreparable injury," Leighton wrote.

The injunction effectively sets up a so-called "refuse and refer" system, allowing pharmacists who personally oppose Plan B to send customers to another pharmacy.

Women's groups, abortion-rights advocates and Gregoire have opposed that approach, saying women who seek emergency contraception must get the pills as quickly as possible for them to work.

Kristen Waggoner, an attorney for the pharmacists and drug store owner, said, "We believe strongly that forcing someone to choose between their religious beliefs and actually losing their business or their career is unconstitutional."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071109/ap_on_re_us/refusing_prescriptions

So, who is right, and why?

Crocodile - "it is different from the abortion pill RU-486 and has no effect on women who already are pregnant". You are defining when 'pregnancy' begins according to your belief - which ain't shared by everyone - including but not limited to scientists, right?

Wendy: "What about Muslim cab drivers who refuse to accept patrons who've obviously been drinking too much?"
HELL, ANY CABDRIVER HAS THE RIGHT TO REFUSE - and they refuse they do - all the time! Drunk people have a nasty habit of BARFING.

Answer 1

I look at the issue like this...Pharmacists know when they go into the profession that they are handing out drugs to people. They aren't blindly going into it wondering what their job description could possibly entail. Therefore, by choosing to go to pharmacy school and getting a job in a Pharmacy after graduation, they are giving up their rights to morally object to people taking drugs.

There are certain religions that believe that some modern medical practices are wrong. Should people who practice these religions be allowed to become doctors and then refuse to treat their patients because it would get in the way of their personal beliefs?

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

This issue is more complex. It has more to do with pharmacists being perceived as equal health care providers. Everyone else is allowed to morally object and not participate in certain activities.
Why is Plan B not considered an abortion causing drug? It is not because the AMA has decided birth starts at implantation. If the AMA had decided birth starts at conception, then Plan B because an abortion causing drug. Also, Plan B does not hurt any implanted embyro.

Answer 4

If a druggist is so against abortion that they don't want to sell this particular pill that only prevents the embryo from implanting, shouldn't they be boycotting IVF, fertility clinics and medications, and other medical treatments that fertilize a bunch of eggs and then freeze them to implant until one takes? Millions of babies frozen and denied access to life, in their view. I don't have a problem with the druggist's right to choose not to provide a medication, so long as it isn't that they provide it to some people and not to others (such as minimum ages), but I hate that kind of hypocrisy that they're willing to take their beliefs to an extreme in one sector where they can get in people's faces and in court over it but totally ignore other instances that would make them look as radical as they are - becuase opposing fertility treatment isn't socially acceptable.

Answer 5

If I am a vegetarian, and I work as a cashier at a grocery store, can I refuse to sell someone meat? I think I would lose my job VERY quickly.

It is not a pharmacist's job to determine what medications should be given to the patient - that is the job of the doctor. To refuse to fill a prescription for ANY medication is to practice medicine without a license.

Answer 6

Somewhere the message should be quite clear: Independent Owners, do not have to sell the drug. It can be whatever their religious beliefs withstand. However, chain stores, ie RiteAid, that do sell the drug, can not withhold treatment. It would be like keeping insulin away from a diabetic. Unfortunately, most of these religious fanatics have never been in the position to face an abortion.
** So lets see, an abortion or the "morning after" pill? **
Keep your flippin' rosaries, and give us the pill.

Answer 7

The same sort of thing happened in nursing back in the 90's. Freaks were refusing to care for patients with AIDS, and not because they had a lethal virus, but because they were, for the most part back then, gay. Nurses who refused on "moral grounds" to care for patients with AIDS or who were gay were fired. Health care professionals must never allow their "moral grounds" to interfer with their patients' rights. If they do so, they should lose their professional licenses to practice.

What do you want to bet that these freaks have no "moral" problem whatsoever with selling the State of Washington the sodium thropental, pancuronium / tubocuraine and potassium chloride that are used in this state's capital punishment lethal injections?

Answer 8

There will always be a pharmacist who IS willing to sell Plan B. You just have to know where to find them. I can understand cab drivers not wanting people to puke in their car, but what effect will a woman who takes Plan B have on the pharmacy?

Answer 9

If they don't want to fill a script because they don't like birth control for religious reasons than they need to find another job.

America is about freedom of religion but that means freedom From religion too.

Edit: Emergency contraception is Not an abortifacient. It supresses ovulation and fertilisation.

Edit#2: Crocodile isn't defining anything. Pregnancy starts with a fertilised egg that has implanted. Contraception is whatever prevents it. Abortion is whatever removes it.

This is not my opinion this is a fact.

Answer 10

Pharmacies should ensure that there is always a staff member on duty prepared to sell the script. If they fail to do this they should have their license to sell pharmaceuticals revoked because whilst an individual can exercise their freedom of religion in referring, the pharmacy also has a duty to fulfill the terms of its operating license. This means AT the premises, not elsewhere.