Almost three weeks ago, the Washington Post ran a front-page item on pharmacists who are refusing to fill prescriptions when medications violate their “personal moral or religious beliefs.” It caused a fuss, but the scope of the issue was not altogether clear. It was a solid article, but it was vague about how serious a problem this is nationwide. It talked about “some” pharmacists, but didn’t say how many. It mentioned a new “trend” in the culture war, but didn’t say how broad the trend is.
But in the subsequent weeks, we’ve seen this issue really blossom into a full-fledged, legitimate political controversy. There’s the Illinois controversy I mentioned yesterday, but it’s hardly an isolated case.
In Arizona, for example, Republican lawmakers passed a bill that would allow pharmacists to reject prescriptions they don’t like, prompting a veto in the governor’s office.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has vetoed a bill that would have allowed pharmacists to refuse to provide emergency contraception if doing so conflicts with their moral or religious beliefs.
Napolitano, who supports abortion rights, said in her veto letter to lawmakers yesterday that pharmacists and other health care providers “have no right to interfere with the lawful personal medical decisions made by patients and their doctors.”
The bill would have permitted pharmacies and hospitals to refuse to dispense drugs “prescribed to accomplish an abortion and emergency contraception based on a moral or religious objection.” Emergency contraception, or the morning-after pill, reduces a woman’s chance of becoming pregnant within 72 hours of intercourse by preventing ovulation or fertilization and interfering with implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.
What’s more, in Wisconsin this week, a state board approved sanctions against a pharmacist who refused to fill a prescription for birth-control pills and rejected requests to have it transferred to another pharmacy.
And as my friend D.D. noted via email, the issue is even drawing attention in Congress.
Reports of pharmacists with particular religious and moral beliefs denying prescriptions for birth control have prompted legislation that would ensure all prescriptions are filled.
House and Senate backers unveiled a bill dubbed the Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act (ALPhA) on Thursday.
It would allow a pharmacist to refuse to fill a prescription only if the prescription can be passed to and filled by a co-worker at the same pharmacy.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chief sponsor of the bill, said at a Capitol Hill rally, “We are merely saying, ‘let the laws in this country stand.’ Let a woman be treated with dignity. When she has a prescription from her doctor, that privacy should be respected.”
Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life, responded, “They’ll force women to kill their children … It will be like China. It’s the next logical step.”
That’s where the debate is right now — Dem lawmakers asking pharmacies to fill prescriptions and right-wing activists arguing that they’ll “force women to kill their children.” Wow.
Regardless, there’s no way on earth Hastert and DeLay will allow this bill to gain traction in the House. Having said that, the fact that this issue has risen so quickly to the federal level suggests that this is an issue that will be a “culture war” mainstay for a while.