Chicago: Protesters Blast Pharmacy Over Birth-Control Pills

About 100 people staged a protest outside a Chicago pharmacy where a pharmacist refuses to fill prescriptions for birth control pills. There's growing support for letting pharmacists get away with not doing their job and perhaps more public pressure like this will reverse the trend.

The Chicago Tribune reports:

In a scenario reminiscent of the 1960s, protesters chanted, "What do we want? Access! When do we want it? Now!" and carried placards reading, "Your religion does not belong in my health care." ... In one case, Cox said, she called in a prescription for emergency contraceptive pills for a young woman to a local Walgreens. "The girl called me back in hysterical tears a few minutes later," Cox said. The pharmacist had called her home and left a message, which alarmed the girl's parents. When the girl was able to get out of the house and call the pharmacist back, she was told the pharmacist wouldn't fill her prescription because emergency contraception was "killing babies."

But the American Pharmacists Association says pharmacists can't be compelled to dispense a medication to which they have moral objections. Nevertheless, the association says, there must be an alternative system in place to make sure the patient gets the drug her doctor has prescribed. ... Dr. Debra Stulberg, a family physician in Oak Park who attended the demonstration, said she assesses each patient's medical needs and comes to a decision with the patient about what to prescribe. When pharmacists refuse to fill her prescription, she said, "they're getting in the way of the best interests of my patients."

It's not part of the pharmacist's job description to second-guess a doctor's prescription unless the pharmacist has reason to think that the medication will harm the patient. Absent such a situation, the pharmacist has a moral obligation to fill the prescription, even if the pharmacist has other objections to that sort of medication in general.

Furthermore, if a pharmacist has an objection to standard medication that is prescribed and taken every day (birth control pills may be one of the most prescribed medications), then they should find another career. It's not as though birth control pills are something rare that they can assume they will hardly ever encounter. It's not as though there were any debate about the safety and efficacy of them, either.

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