Board: Pharmasists Must Fill Prescriptions

People that fight this pill are being too radical...

From The Las Vegas Sun:

Druggists who believe "morning-after" birth control pills are tantamount to abortion can't stand in the way of a patient's right to the drugs, state regulators have decided.

In a unanimous vote Thursday, the state Board of Pharmacy ruled that drug stores have a duty to fill lawful prescriptions despite an individual pharmacist's personal objections to any particular medication.

Pharmacists or drug stores that violate the rules could face discipline from the board, which has the power to revoke state licenses.

The Washington State Catholic Conference and Human Life Washington, an anti-abortion group, predicted a court challenge, saying the rule wrongly forces pharmacists to administer medical treatments they consider immoral.

"I don't think pharmacists who adhere to traditional moral precepts are going to allow their conscience to be overrun by the Board of Pharmacy," said Dan Kennedy, Human Life's chief executive. {snip]

Sold as Plan B, emergency contraception is a high dose of the drug found in many regular birth-control pills. It can lower the risk of pregnancy by as much as 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

Some critics consider the pill related to abortion, although it is different from the abortion pill RU-486 and has no effect on women who already are pregnant.

The federal Food and Drug Administration made the morning-after pill available over the counter to adults in August.

Under the new state rule, pharmacists with personal objections to a drug could opt out by getting a co-worker to fill an order. But that would only apply if the patient is able to get the prescription in the same pharmacy visit.

Pharmacies would be required to order new supplies of a drug if a patient asks for something that is not in stock.

Pharmacists are also forbidden to destroy a prescription or harass patients, rules that were prompted by complaints from Washingtonians, chairwoman Rebecca Hille said.

The rule will take effect in mid-June, Health Department spokesman Jeff Smith said.

It is not abortion, it PREVENTS pregnancy. It is noting more than a high dose birth control pill. I know radical right to lifers and the Catholic Church is against birth control, but everyone else who is against abortion should be for this pill; it will lower abortion use! Some times I just don't understand people. This should be supported by right to lifers, not fought.

As to the pharmacists, shame on them. Doctors prescribe medicine, not pharmacists. If a Doctor prescribes a medication it is your job to dispense it, unless the doctor made a mistake medically and the medicine will do harm to the patient. If the government makes it over the counter then you dispense it if asked. If you cannot handle that, find a new job.

This is worse than Muslims refusing to take people in their cabs and not ringing up pork products. Now we have Christian right to lifers supporting the pharmacists refusing service, that is sad. It is the same problem, but at least they are not refusing medicine! Although I am sure they would if they were pharmacists.

If your religion is not compatible with your job, get a new job.