Refusing to Provide Contraception to Women: Whose 'Right' Is it Anyway?
By Amie Newman, Managing Editor The excellent blog, Midwife Connection, of the American College for Nurse Midwives (ACNM) published a thoughtful post the other day, “Should a pharmacist be able to refuse to fill a prescription?” on “pharmacist refusal” (ie, pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception because of a personal belief that contraception = murder). It was written by a certified nurse midwife in my home state of Washington. Midwives, of course, have a stake in this issue as CNMs can provide counseling about, information on, and prescriptions for contraception; a significantly important part of postpartum discussions with the women they serve. The post discusses a Washington state multi-year effort to ensure that pharmacists and pharmacies cannot discriminate against women who need a prescription for emergency contraception (EC) filled from their pharmacists. According to Midwife Connection:
Here in WA State, a prescription refusal issue is working its way through the legal system. Many people are calling it “Refuse and Refer” claiming that it is appropriate for a pharmacy or a pharmacist to refuse to fill prescriptions to which they object on religious or moral grounds, and refer clients elsewhere. A few claim they should be able to refuse with no responsibility to refer at all.
In late October of this year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of "patients rights" in a case that, according to Legal Voice, a legal advocacy organization in Seattle working on this issue, "involves a challenge brought by two pharmacists and a pharmacy to Washington State Board of Pharmacy rules requiring all licensed pharmacies to fill patients’ prescriptions, regardless of an individual pharmacist’s personal beliefs about a particular medication." In other words, the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed an earlier decision that rules created by the Washington state Pharmacy Board "do not aim to suppress, target, or single out in any way the practice of religion, but, rather, their objective was to increase access to all lawfully prescribed medications." Visit the RH Reality Check website to read the entire article.
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