Posted on 12/02/2005 8:56:52 AM PST by NYer
(AP) Walgreen Co., the nation's largest drugstore chain by revenue, said it has put four Illinois pharmacists in the St. Louis area on unpaid leave for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception in violation of a state rule.
The four cited religious or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and "have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense, and in Illinois that is not an option," Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said.
A rule imposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in April requires Illinois pharmacies that sell contraceptives approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to fill prescriptions for emergency birth control. Pharmacies that do not fill prescriptions for any type of contraception are not required to follow the rule.
Ed Martin, an attorney for the pharmacists, on Tuesday called the discipline "pretty disturbing" and said they would consider legal action if Walgreen doesn't reconsider.
At least six other pharmacists have sued over the rule, claiming it forces them to violate their religious beliefs. Many of those lawsuits were filed by Americans United for Life, the Chicago public interest law firm with which Martin is affiliated.
The licenses of both a pharmacy and that store's chief pharmacist could be revoked if they don't comply with the Illinois rule, Bruce said.
Walgreen, based in Deerfield, Ill., put the four on leave Monday, Bruce said. She would not identify them. They will remain on unpaid leave "until they either decide to abide by Illinois law or relocate to another state" without such a rule or law.
For example, she said, the company would be willing to help them get licensed in Missouri and they could work for Walgreen there.
Walgreen policy says pharmacists can refuse to fill prescriptions to which they are morally opposed, except where state law prohibits, but they must take steps to have the prescription filled by another pharmacist or store, Bruce said.
Bruce said Wednesday the four pharmacists were the first Walgreen had disciplined under the state's rule. Walgreen has 488 stores in Illinois, out of about 5,000 nationwide, with generally three to five pharmacists employed at each one.
It was not clear whether other large pharmacy chains had taken similar action.
Jean Coutu Group Inc., which owns more than 1,900 Eckerd and Brooks stores, requires its pharmacists to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception, spokeswoman Helene Bisson said. But she wouldn't say if Jean Coutu has taken action similar to Walgreen.
CVS Corp., the nation's largest retail pharmacy as measured by number of stores, did not immediately return calls.
30 years ago, my Catholic obstetrician would not perform a tubal ligation.
Should he have lost his job, or should I have gone to another doctor?
"But.. can't the person with the prescription more easily go to another pharmacy?"
I fully agree that is the logical and just choice --- freedom to not sell and freedom to chose where one shops.
Unfortunately, we are dealing with a stupid law that says all phamasists in IL must sell the abortion pill.
According to whom? You?
As you may have gathered from reading other replies on this thread, the governor recently issued an "emergency rule" eliminating making it illegal for a pharmacist to exercise such right of refusal.
Illinois pornographers will soon be insisting that the corner news agencies carry their latest magazines,?
(if customers want them)
or relocate to another state.
Sounds like fascism.
If you can't say whether what the state has done is right or not, you are definitely not a conservative.
In Illinois, that mean you would have to work for (or own) a pharmacy that sells no birth control.
From the article:
A rule imposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in April requires Illinois pharmacies that sell contraceptives approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to fill prescriptions for emergency birth control.
Yep.
Unless the great puppeteer in the sky is working my fingers, then yes, I'm the one who types my own posts.
Companies should do the right moral thing. Is that so difficult a concept to understand? Upholding high legal, ethical, and yes, moral standards may cost you in the short run but it's definitely the right thing to do and usually pays off in the long run.
Or they could be like Wachovia, which apologized recently because one of its distant historic corporate antecedents owned slaves.
(The Wachovia thing was pretty ridiculous, but the point is past moral failings, even if legal, follow companies for a long time.)
Yes, or leave Illinois to practice for a state that does not legislate its morals (or lack thereof) onto its people.
That's what laws are, legislated morals (or lack thereof). The frequently-stated opposition to "legislating morals" is a preposterous anti-morality catchphrase used to attack conservatives as Bible-thumping theocrats. The correct view is that laws should reflect good morals, rather than being immoral or amoral.
That makes no more sense legally than if certain gun manufacturers would suspend their workers if they refused to shoot to kill all customers who wouldn't buy their company's guns but would buy other gun makers product.
Under "emergency conditions", I doubt anyone will be running into a pharmacy under such conditions. I wonder if anyone has challenged the legality of the governor's diktat.
Would you feel the same way if one Walgreen's pharmacist were to tell you that, in order to have a prescription filled right away, you would have to go to another near-by Walgrren's?
I think I am correct that any Target store within Illinois would not be able to refuse to require its pharmacists to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception.
The law of Illinois does not allow pharmacies within the state of Illinois to have such a policy.
Walgreen's has complied with the law -- even though, apparently, they wished to allow the pharmacists who work for them to exercise their religious beliefs.
It is my understanding that the four pharmacists suspended by Walgreen's will be challenging the legality of the Illinois law.
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