"I can't fill your prescription because it is against my bel

[Tazdrummer]

This is when religious nuts are going overboard

These freaks have a job to do, fill a prescription, not preach morals.

[Tazdrummer]

(This is just in case you got a "must be a subscriber to read this.... I did when I went to the second page using Feed Demon)

New arena for birth-control battle
Rene Sanchez, Star Tribune


Rebecca Polzin walked into a drugstore in Glencoe, Minn., last month to fill a prescription for birth control. A routine request. Or so she thought.

Minutes later, Polzin left furious and empty-handed. She said the pharmacist on duty refused to help her. "She kept repeating the same line: 'I won't fill it for moral reasons,' " Polzin said.

Earlier this year, Adriane Gilbert called a pharmacy in Richfield to ask if her birth-control prescription was ready. She said the person who answered told her to go elsewhere because he was opposed to contraception. "I was shocked," Gilbert said. "I had no idea what to do."

The two women have become part of an emotional debate emerging across the country: Should a pharmacist's moral views trump a woman's reproductive rights?
adriane gilbert was turned away by a pharmacist
Adriane Gilbert was turned away by a pharmacist.
Kyndell Harkness
Star Tribune

The question is gaining urgency as more contraceptive drugs become available to women, and it is drawing familiar foes in the nation's struggle over abortion into new battles in state legislatures and Congress.

No one knows how many pharmacists in Minnesota or nationwide are declining to fill contraceptive prescriptions. But both sides in the debate say they are hearing more reports of such incidents -- and they predict that conflicts at drugstore counters are bound to increase.

"Five years ago, we didn't have evidence of this, and we would have been dumbfounded to see it," said Sarah Stoesz, president of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. "We're not dumbfounded now. We're very concerned about what's happening."

But M. Casey Mattox of the Center for Law and Religious Freedom said it is far more disturbing to see pharmacists under fire for their religious beliefs than it is to have women inconvenienced by taking their prescription to another drugstore. He also said that laws have long shielded doctors opposed to abortion from having to take part in the procedure.

"The principle here is precisely the same," Mattox said.

Two cases in the Midwest are a focus of the growing fight.

Emergency order

In Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich issued an emergency order last month that requires pharmacists to fill prescriptions for any kind of legal birth control their employer carries, regardless of their religious beliefs.

The governor took the step after two women complained that a pharmacist in Chicago refused on moral grounds to give them prescribed contraceptive pills that were in stock.

"No delays. No hassles. No lectures," Blagojevich said.

But several pharmacists, backed by Christian legal groups, have filed lawsuits to overturn the governor's order, which they say violates state law. Other pharmacists are vowing to ignore the governor's requirement.

In Wisconsin last month, the state pharmacy board reprimanded pharmacist Neil Noesen for refusing for religious reasons to fill or transfer a woman's birth-control prescription at a Kmart three years ago.

Noesen was arrested this year in Minnetonka for allegedly refusing to leave Snyders Drug Stores' corporate headquarters after he was fired for rejecting other birth-control prescriptions, according to a police report of the incident.

Snyders and an attorney representing Noesen declined to comment on that incident or his reprimand in Wisconsin. The attorney said Noesen was not giving interviews.

Nationally, legislators in more than a dozen states are reexamining the rights of pharmacists and women with prescriptions for birth control.

Some legislatures are reviewing new bills that would grant pharmacists protection from lawsuits or disciplinary action for refusing to dispense contraceptives. Other states may require pharmacists to fill birth-control prescriptions despite their moral qualms, unless they can direct women to convenient alternatives.

In Congress, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., introduced legislation last month to require pharmacies handling Medicare or Medicaid accounts to fill all legal prescriptions without delay or harassment, or refer customers to a place that will. She has said the bill is intend to protect access to contraceptives

[74AD]

this kinda of stuff really does get under my skin.

I can see if a pharmacist owns and operates his/her own shop. He/she would have the right to accept or not accept people's business. however even then I think I would have to still object, because it is clearly discrimination. We wouldn't let a pharmacist refuse to dispense aids medication to a customer because he/she was religiously opposed to homosexuality would we? We wouldn't let a pharmacist refuse sicle cell medication to a black customer would we?

But when these people work for a company, they have no right whatsoever to refuse to dispense prescriptions. If rite aid (as a company) fills birth control scripts and you work for rite aid, then guess what genius? Either dispense it or find somewhere else to work!

I could go on and on....this stuff get's me worked up. I think I'll just try to let it go.....

[thirdfey]

Do the pharmacists in question own the store they operate in or are they simply an employee of the store? Obviously Noesen does not so understandably he was fired. If you work for a place that products a particular service or product and choose not to go along with what the company provides you should be fired. No one can really argue with that logic. If you are the owner of an establishment and choose not to provide a service or product the customer wants should the government get involved?

[thirdfey]

Originally Posted by kid1sDad

...however even then I think I would have to still object, because it is clearly discrimination. We wouldn't let a pharmacist refuse to dispense aids medication to a customer because he/she was religiously opposed to homosexuality would we? We wouldn't let a pharmacist refuse sicle cell medication to a black customer would we?

I think you are trying to make this a bigger issue than it is. I don't see the discrimination as clearly as you do apparently. The pharmacist is against birth control so they choose not to sell birth control. I don't see the similarity between that and being a racist that won't prescribe something to black people.

[74AD]

Originally Posted by thirdfey

If you are the owner of an establishment and choose not to provide a service or product the customer wants should the government get involved?

dunno....if you are discriminating against a specific group then I'd have to say yes.

As I said in my post just before yours......would it be OK to refuse aids medications because you're opposed to homosexuality.

also I believe it should be noted that the pill is indeed sometimes used for medical purposes besides prevention of pregnancy. sometimes women who have serious menstrauls problems can be helped and regulated with the pill

[Major Kong]

Folks this isn't gnu. When we were still living in VA in the 80's this was common throughout the region we lived in (SW VA & upper East TN). iBunny knew what drug stores to go to and which to avoid. When we were back there late last fall it was still going on. I'm sorta shocked that this is something that is thought of as new.
To answer thirdfey it was more of a corner drug store thing when we lived there, but we did see it at "corporate" type stores. Never saw it in AZ nor have we seen it in AK.

[74AD]

Originally Posted by thirdfey

I think you are trying to make this a bigger issue than it is. I don't see the discrimination as clearly as you do apparently. The pharmacist is against birth control so they choose not to sell birth control. I don't see the similarity between that and being a racist that won't prescribe something to black people.

I don't think I am. . . . a certain population of our society uses birth control. the pharmacists is refsuing to offer specific services to that population of people. how is it different than refusing to dispense aids medication due to a religous belief that homosexuality is a sin?

[thirdfey]

Originally Posted by kid1sDad

I don't think I am. . . . a certain population of our society uses birth control. the pharmacists is refsuing to offer specific services to that population of people. how is it different than refusing to dispense aids medication due to a religous belief that homosexuality is a sin?

A certain population of our society get's headaches, does that mean they should be forced to sell aspirin?

[thirdfey]

Let me ask this question, if the person said they don't sell the product because it is not cost effective for the company then would you accept the reason?