Pharmacist Refuses to Fill Birth Control Prescription Based on Religious Beliefs

Vitamin G, Glamour Magazine

Lexi Petronis,Glamour magazine

So this just happened: a woman in New Mexico, Susanne Koestner, called the same Walgreens she's been going to for eight years to have her prescription for birth control pills refilled for same-day pickup. But this time, the pharmacist refused to do it--and here's why.

He said birth control pills were against his religious beliefs, and that Koestner could wait to get her prescription somewhere else, or the next day from a different Walgreens pharmacist.

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Let's put aside the fact that she needed the pills for that day (skipping days could potentially make the pill less effective) for a moment and focus on a few points: 1) according to Walgreens, the company has a policy that allows pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions if it's against their beliefs (but the pharmacist must refer the customer to another pharmacist who's on duty); 2) in 2008, Sarah wrote about a pharmacy in Virginia that just flat-out says "no" if you want contraceptives and, four years later, this kind of thing is apparently still happening.

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It may be happening more than we think, actually. Six states--Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, and South Dakota--have laws stating that pharmacists don't have to dispense emergency contraception if they don't want to. Other states have "conscience clauses" that allow physicians and pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control and family planning services if they interfere with their "moral or religious beliefs."

In Koestner's case, the ACLU wasn't too impressed with how Walgreens handled things. The organization says the pharmacist's refusal constitutes sex discrimination: "Walgreens is free to accommodate the religious beliefs of its pharmacists. ... However, religion cannot be used to discriminate against people, and that is exactly what happened here," said ACLU-NM Staff Attorney Alexandra Freedman Smith.

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Meanwhile, Koestner had this to say: "Something is very wrong when a man can walk in to any pharmacy and buy condoms, but a woman can't fill a birth control prescription prescribed to her by a doctor. As a patient, I am at the mercy of licensed pharmacists and pharmacies when it comes to being able to receive the medications my doctor has prescribed for me."

Where do you stand on the issue? Do you think it's OK for pharmacists and physicians to refuse to dispense contraceptives and other medications and services when it's against their beliefs?


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