Connelly wrong on Plan B and pharmacists
LISA M. STONE, CHRISTINE CHARBONNEAU AND KAREN COOPER News columnist Joel Connelly tries to make a case for pharmacists who want to refuse to dispense birth control ("Liberals need own 'Plan B' on pharmacies," Monday). Unfortunately, Connelly -- who never contacted the women's rights organizations involved in the regulations or the case -- is wrong on several points. First, the Board of Pharmacy rules contested in the litigation do not require pharmacists to fill prescriptions to which they object. Instead, they balance two competing interests: the interests of patients in access to their medications, and the personal beliefs of pharmacists. They do this by requiring the pharmacy -- not the pharmacist -- to make sure that a patient gets her medications at the pharmacy where she requested them. The burden is on the pharmacy to accommodate a pharmacist who objects to filling a prescription for personal reasons. If the pharmacy cannot accommodate the objecting pharmacist without undue expense, we believe that in this calculus, the patient's needs are paramount. This is the right balance, because it does not place the patient at risk.
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