ABEL
An Angel In Devil's Shoes
this makes me mad that a pharmacist would do such a thing and refuse a doctor's written prescription. while i share the pharmacists views on being 'pro-life' that's not what this is about.
it's about his duty as a pharmacist filling a prescription. while i'm not sure how i feel about the 'morning after' pill as a form of contraceptive birth control, i think in this case it's different as the woman had been a victim of rape. if he felt he couldn't give out the drug to the woman, at least he could have gotten someone else to do it. or perhaps he shouldn't work in a pharmacy knowing those drugs are there, and may actually be prescribed.
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/d.../stories/wfaa040202_am_pharmacy.79625125.html
it's about his duty as a pharmacist filling a prescription. while i'm not sure how i feel about the 'morning after' pill as a form of contraceptive birth control, i think in this case it's different as the woman had been a victim of rape. if he felt he couldn't give out the drug to the woman, at least he could have gotten someone else to do it. or perhaps he shouldn't work in a pharmacy knowing those drugs are there, and may actually be prescribed.
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/d.../stories/wfaa040202_am_pharmacy.79625125.html
Pharmacy's refusal to fill prescription protested
10:35 PM CST on Monday, February 2, 2004
By BRAD HAWKINS / WFAA-TV
Protestors said a Denton pharmacist crossed a line when he refused to fill a prescription based on his own personal beliefs.
The pharmacist, who worked at an Eckerd drugstore on University Drive, withheld a so-called "morning after" pill from a rape victim. M ore than two dozen protesters spent time out in front of the store Monday, expressing their displeasure with the decision.
"Pharmacists aren't supposed to play God," said protester Gloria Benavides. "If you need the medicine, they should give it to you."
The State Board of Pharmacy in Austin said pharmacists can refuse to fill a prescription but only on medical grounds, not over moral concerns. This woman's rape was medically confirmed by a doctor, who prescribed the pill.
It wasn't the victim's first stop; several other drugstores in town don't stock the drug. She eventually had the prescription filled across the street at a Walgreen's, but only after waiting 20 minutes at Eckerd.
A friend said the pharmacist told the woman that "this medication is designed to end life, and I cannot abide by that."
"After being raped and assaulted, to come into a pharmacy to get a prescription that is stocked there - an FDA-approved drug - and to be shut down, that's a second assault," said protester Stephanie Besier.
"To be faced with a pharmacist who moralizes to her, we find outrageous," said Kathryn Allen of Planned Parenthood of Texas. "This is not a chemical abortion; this is a large dose of birth control pills to prevent an unwanted pregnancy."
A spokeswoman for Florida-based Eckerd would not get specific in this case, but did say it had been reviewed and addressed. The chain's policy states it would not support any pharmacist's right to refuse to fill a prescription based on political, moral or religious convictions.
Still, some gathered Monday said they plan to take their business elsewhere.
"I pulled all my prescriptions from here, and will no longer use Eckerd," Besier said.