Divergent state views on pharmacies' rights to refuse "morning after" pill Rx

[Digitonomy]

Culture war hits local pharmacy

By Amanda Paulson
The Christian Science Monitor
April 08, 2005

…From rural Texas to Chicago, more instances are cropping up of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for oral contraceptives and the morning-after pill. As a result, politicians around the country are stepping into the fray.

It’s a debate that weighs personal morals against professional responsibility. It pits religious rights against patients’ rights and raises the question of just where pharmacists stand on the spectrum of health-care professionals.

Many pharmacists point to the “conscience-clause” exceptions that nearly every state has in place for doctors, allowing them to recuse themselves from performing abortions or other procedures they object to. They believe they should have similar protection.

Critics point out that filling a prescription is a very different job from writing one, and question whether pharmacists can deny a legal drug on moral grounds…

The article goes on to note that states are coming down on both sides. Some are passing laws to protect the patient’s right to have his prescription filled, others are passing laws to protect the pharmacist’s right not to fill prescriptions that he finds objectionable.