Perhaps the choice, without making a fuss, would be to avoid giving such establishments your business.

Who needs regulation when we can vote with our wallets?

If you can't do your job, find a job you can do.

Because the women most in need of that contraception have little money and no access to another pharmacy in the near vicinity? There are lots of these operations, especially in rural areas where girls have to cross state lines to get to another one. There are also fake Planned parenthood like operations, where they will stall you until your legal limit for abortion has passed.

Although I don't agree with their beliefs, I do believe that they have the right to sell what they want, to who they want.

I, for one, will never purchase anything from any of those stores; and I'd imagine that other people who share the same reproductive choice beliefs won't either.

This is ridiculous... a few of my friends, one who is totally pro-life, HAVE TO take birth control to regulate their bodies. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to have kids at all. Refusing to sell birth control because you are pro-life is pretty short-sighted.

@nsv:

agreed, how could your job to provide health care to people and refuse it?! So are they also refusing to fill perscriptions for people that have herepes or aids? How can you pick and choose who you help and who you don't?

I wonder if they fill prescriptions for Viagra.

Accuracy in labeling probably is called for. If they are pro-life, fine. They have that right to not sell everything. But I don't have to shop there, and it should be clear that they don't provide these services.

These people should have their license to practice as pharmacists revoked, immediately.

Ah, stores with an agenda.

@amyschiff:
Absolutely right, my wife is a pharmacist and it unfathomable that someone in that profession could refuse to dispense birth control. First, as you said, these drugs are often used to regulate cycles, etc. Also, huge numbers of abortions are prevented by the use of birth control.

Just because a drug could be misused to precipitate an abortion, doesn't mean it shouldn't be dispensed. There are many drugs can and are used to commit suicide...are these same pharmacists refusing to provide them on the off chance they may be misused?

I agree with beavis88!! This is just fundamentally WRONG...

what next, they wont sell you drugs made from stem cells??

They don't want people to be able to prevent unwanted pregnancies, so are they going to support the unwanted babies when they are born?

I for one will take my business elsewhere.

I wonder if their aisle of magic herbal cures will be particularly well-stocked.

Their job isn't to provide health care for people. Thats your GPs job. Their job is to middle man pharmacueticals. THey have all the right in world to choose what they want to sell and what won't sell. I don't aggree with their pro-life stance but thats my belief as what they are doing is theres. If you dont like how they do buisness go elsewhere.

href="#c6330608">kborer22: Agreed, if we let cops or firefighters only help those who they "morally" agree with, we have some trouble. And, to the "just go to another pharmacy" crowd- just wait for a another cop or firefighter to come.

Since many don't believe in evolution or stem cell reasearch, they shouldn't stock a number of drugs. For example, they shouldn't certain antibiotics since there's no such thing as antibiotic-resistant strains because bacteria can't become antibiotic resistant.

Pregnancy is a health matter. As such, medical providers must address it. Imagine, for example, if you went to the pharmacy for high blood pressure, and he refused to sell you your prescribed medication because he was a vegetarian and believed that your meat-eating caused your cholesterol problems.

I agree that anyone may open a store and run it his way. But a pharmacists' license is currently awarded based on the assumption that the pharmacist will consistently dispense on a doctor's prescription. If they fail to do this, they break the contract upon which their license stands, and their license is null by their own action. Revocation merely verifies the breakage initiated by the pharmacist who thinks he can do whatever he wants. He's just like a cop who thinks his badge gives him freedom to break the law.

If these people want to run drug stores, fine. But if they want to fail to dispense, yet remain in the pharmacy business, they are in essence practicing unlicensed.

If a pharmacist thinks that a certain medication is used to facilitate things that are considered immoral, they should not be forced to sell it. The consumer has to take responsibility and not shop at the establishments if they're offended by the decision.

The last thing we need is the government mandating what individual's have to sell at their own businesses.

@speedwell: And, additionally, they ought to be required to post a prominent notice, ideally in the front window, that they are non-dispensers.

This kind of thing makes me sick. I do not believe that just "voting with your wallets" is good enough. What if an emergency room refuses to save your life because they don't like your skin color? Do we just say, "we'll vote with our wallet and not go there anymore?" That'll fix everything!

This is a HEALTH ISSUE- not a greeting card store. Many women take birth control for severe health issues, and as amyschiff pointed out, often so that they CAN someday procreate. NO ONE has the right to say "oh, we're not going to treat your painful and potentially life-threatening condition because some women use it for family planning."

I think places that refuse a basic and common medical care based on discrimination of any kind should be shut down.

@floofy3223: You'd better believe that they sell Viagra. Which puts women in an even more awkward situation. "Yes honey, I know you just took that little blue pill, but I couldn't get any contraceptive."

@Meshuggina: They're not being forced to sell it. They agreed to sell it when they applied and received their license on the terms that they would dispense what a doctor ordered them to dispense. If they do not want to uphold the terms of their license, they have broken it.

@ARP: Firefighters and police officers are government positions. They don't get to decide who to help.

I think they should have the right to sell whatever they want to sell. If they don't want to sell anything related to birth control, fine. If you find this objectionable, then don't shop here.

On another note, when I was going thru my wedding preparation with my wife, we had to sit down with a priest and discuss birth control (which the Catholic Church is completely against). My wife has taken BC pills for 15 years to regulate her hormones and the priest had the nerve to tell her that she needs to find some other way to regulate her hormones that doesn't impede "God's plan" for reproduction! Of course I had to comment on this. I asked him if he believed God was All Powerful. Of course he said yes, to which I added, "well, if God is all powerful, then I doubt a pill will thwart his plan for reproduction. I mean, if it is his plan, he'll just override the pill, right?"

'nuff said

Sorry, closing bold tag.

Previous commentators: Your bias is showing. There is nothing in any local, state or federal law that states pharmacies can be forced to sell any particular product. It is entirely up to the owner as to what products will be provided to the public. God help us if government meddling ever expands to that level.

Don't get me wrong, my daughter requires birth control pills to regulate her system properly so I understand that sometimes these products are necessary.

As far as the person who brings up 'rural areas', they have obviously never BEEN in a rural area - if you lived in a small town, the local pharmacist would probably be more than willing to provide whatever medication is REQUIRED (my emphasis) to their regular customers. As for the 70% of the US that lives in urban or suburban areas, there's plenty of other pharmacists within walking distance for those few citizens who still walk.

But I respect the stand of these stores. As a business owner, I have the right to control what products I sell and have refused to carry a vendor's inferior products that I don't think are compatibly with my clientele's expectation. MY CHOICE, please don't come storming my doors saying that the government needs to regulate my bias against cheap crap.

@Meshuggina: I'm a firefighter, and I know guys who think that cramming large families into small apartments is immoral. Does that mean they have the right to let those families burn to death because they don't approve?

Pharmacists have doctorates (pharmD.) While they couldn't walk into an emergency room and take over if the ER doc collapsed, they do provide health care. If they disapprove of their job responsibilities, maybe they should quit their job as a health care provider and open an adoption agency.

@speedwell: There is no requirement that requires pharmacists to prescribe what a doctor says. Quite to the contrary, I would imagine pharmacists are trained to second-guess prescriptions that could harm consumers.

@speedwell: AGREED! Letting people know what's going on should be a requirement. I'm sure a lot of people would be in the dark about their horrible "policy," particularly if they do not need that type of MEDICATION (yes, not a candy bar).

I still can't wrap my head around the people that think a pharmacy is a simple goods store. This is about HEALTH, not commercial goods.

If a store refuses to sell me alcohol because it's against their religion, I'll just find another store. However PRESCRIPTIONS, which have been deemed necessary by a DOCTOR, should not be refused by anyone.

@Nogard13: How does a woman go to another pharmacy where they will sell her what the doctor prescribed if the disapproving pharmacist has taken her prescription and refuses to give it back?

If they don't want to sell it, it's a free country. I think that while many feel that this pharmacy is infringing on their rights or promoting an agenda should stop for a moment and realize that they want to force the Rx to adhere to their beliefs.

I live in a small town with less people in it than a New York City block and we have six pharmacies. This is a non-issue.

@Meshuggina: The last thing we need is the government mandating what individual's have to sell at their own businesses.

I couldn't have said it better myself. In an ironic twist of words, it's about REAL choice here (not the pro-abortion crowd definition) but choice as to whether or not to support it.

The additional problem is that these places are not clearly stating who they are. So people who disagree with their religious hijacking of other people's health care don't know they do this and give these places their business. If these places were forced to clearly state who they are THEN consumers could make informed decisions.

These places generally don't want to actually advertise that they refuse to fill contraception prescriptions because they know it will lose them some business. They want to have it both ways and that makes me just as mad as what they are actually doing. They should be forced to have a standardized prominent sign on the front door. I want to know so I can take my business elsewhere. That goes for places that have one pharmacist in their team that refuses to dispense contraception.

The real problem comes when it is one pharmacy in a small rural area.

We have two hospital groups that operate almost all of the hospitals and clinics in the entire state of SD. One is a Catholic hospital that recently mandated that no doctor in their employ can dispense contraception of any kind to any one. They can't even do physical sterilization (vasectomy or tubal ligation). It probably isn't a big deal having a Catholic hospital this strict in a big metro area where you have plenty of other options when you have limited options it becomes a real problem for people or for people who don't want to give places like this more money.

@dialing_wand: The problem, as noted in the article, is that there's no way to tell up-front if a pharmacy will or will not dispense birth control, wasting time. Which is important for something called the "morning after" pill.

Furthermore, also noted in the article, is that some pharmacists will confiscate your perscription so you can't get it filled elsewhere.

This is exactly what legislation is for: to prevent one party from abusing another.

They are free to roll out whatever business model they choose HOWEVER, a pharmacist working in one of these places should have a special asterisk next to their name on a state file as a pharmacist who won't FULLY do the job a regular pharmacist will.

Maybe a kind of Pharmacist-accreditation-LITE

While I would be perfectly happy to simply vote w/ my wallet against these scumbags, I also happen to think that as licensed members of the medical establishment, they should be obligated to either carry or facilitate acquiring prescribed medicine like BC. Furthermore they should be obligated to provide current, MEDICALLY CORRECT information when people come in to their stores. They can believe whatever they want, but they should only be able to dispense scientifically valid information.

I'd be particularly concerned that these quacks would give kids incorrect information about BC (e.g. abstinence only, pulling out, rhythm methods etc...) and help increase the local rates of pregnancy and STDs (especially depending on how much competition they have). In this day and age you'd think that people (especially licensed medical professionals like pharmacists) would realize that removing BC from the equation makes things worse, never better.

I think i know excatlly where they are going to be putting this store, and quite frankly...I am willing to bet that it is going to go out of business. The stores back there get very little foot traffic. Also, if you want a drugstore, there is a CVS about 10 minutes down the road (I know many of you wouldn't go near it, but there is another drugstore nearby) and this one is open 24 hours a day. I think I am going to go and check this place out when it opens...just for fun!

@theformatter:
I didn't the law requires pharmacists to dispense all meds. Also, there are doctors that refuse to do abortions.

My belief is that medical professionals should do what is in their patients' best interests, putting aside some of their own religious beliefs in favor of the patient's sense of morality.

OMG. Restricting access to condoms promotes disease. Who the heck would shop at a PHARMACY that promotes disease? Ridiculous. Is it too late to add a new bracket to the worst company contest?

I do not think it is a fair comparison between preventative planned birth control (whether taken for birth control or menses regulation) and life-dependent emergency services such as ERs and cops/firefighters acting in emergency response.

Pharmacists are just pill distributors and seem essentially worthless to me. They just count out the amount of whatever the doctor ordered and pour from one big jar into a smaller jar and collect a check. This type of activism should result in their licenses being voided. They are there to give you what a doctor prescribed.

"Sorry, I have a moral objection to what Phizer is doing with its interests in Indonesia, so I substituted your drug with something else..."

@nsv: If you're a firefighter employed by a government entity, you're absolutely required to save individuals that you think are "immoral" as a condition of your employment. You relinquished your right to decide who to save when you became a government employee.

However, if you where a private firefighter-for-hire, you should not be required to do business with people you don't want to do business for. As a self-employed individual or business owner, you set forth the terms and conditions of your employment.

@nsv: There are these things called telephones that you can use to dial the Doctor. Amazing things these telephones that this brilliant Scotsman named Bell invented. I hear they even have a dial on them now so you don't have to call the operator and ask for Central 2 4 8.

@Meshuggina & battra92: So by that logic stores should be allowed to sell expired food, untested medication, unsafe children's toys, and vehicles that don't meet the minimum US safety ratings.

Come on people, the government already does a lot to protect the general public from unscrupulous business practices that often times wouldn't hurt the business because they can mislead and lie about what they're doing. Why do you think these pharmacies will be any different?

By that logic, would it be ok for a hospital ER to refuse to treat a single woman who was pregnant because they believed you should only have sex in marriage? Should they be allowed to refuse to treat a minority because they believe that non-Caucasians are sub-human? People can BELIEVE whatever the hell they want, but in a commercial setting they should only be allowed to exercise those beliefs up to the point where they harm someone else and a pharmacist refusing to dispense medically prescribed medicine (e.g. BC) is causing harm and they shouldn't be allowed to inflict their voodoo on the general public.

I think this is a type of niche marketing, there are plenty of pro lifers who would glady shop at a pharmacy who's values are in line with theirs regarding this issue.

@heavylee-again: I agree. This isn't life or death here.

And isn't the point of a license to prove that everyone holding one agrees to certain terms, has specific skill sets and is allowed to do something dangerous given they make concessions, etc.?

Give me a driver's license, but just so you know -- I don't yield for ambulances.

I'm an attorney but this bar number doesn't mean anything...

@theformatter: "As far as the person who brings up 'rural areas', they have obviously never BEEN in a rural area - if you lived in a small town, the local pharmacist would probably be more than willing to provide whatever medication is REQUIRED (my emphasis) to their regular customers."

Really? You need to go to a few more rural areas. There are some insane religious zealots out here that think the earth is 6000 years old, flat and Adam & Eve rode dinosaurs. There are plenty of these people working as doctors and pharmacists and it is a very real problem made even worse in the smaller towns where options are easily 1-4 hours away.
I live in the largest city in the state and ended up making a blacklist of doctors in town that are religious loons and have made it known publicly so I can make sure nobody in our family inadvertently gets referred or scheduled with one of these people.

@consumersaur: Pharmacists are just pill distributors and seem essentially worthless to me. They just count out the amount of whatever the doctor ordered and pour from one big jar into a smaller jar and collect a check. This type of activism should result in their licenses being voided. They are there to give you what a doctor prescribed.

Quite off-base. Pharmacists also are depended upon to know what each medication does and know what potential interactions may occur with any other medication a patient is taking which was purchased at that pharmacy. The pill-counting and moving pills from a big jar to a smaller jar is done by pharmacy techs.

@nsv:

Nobody said anything about taking the prescription away. If that's the case, then a simple call to your doctor should be all that's necessary. BC pills aren't life or death medications. Even if you're trying to fill your pills on a Sunday morning, when your Dr. is out for the weekend, you could still wait until Monday and skip a day or two of the pills without causing any damage to yourself.