A pharmacist is in the spotlight for refusing to fill a prescription for the abortifacient morning-after pill last month. Suzanne Richards reported to a local newspaper that Brooks pharmacist Todd Sklencar refused to fill her prescription when she drove up to the drive-through prescription counter. After initially being refused by Sklencar's assistant, she told the assistant that she had received the same prescription there before. Sklencar then came to the window and said he disagreed with abortion on moral grounds, and would not provide the prescription. He advised her to try another pharmacy. “He said something like, 'I believe this will end the fertilization of the egg and this conception was your choice,'” she described to Foster's Sunday Citizen. “I'm a single mother and I'm just trying to be responsible,” Richards claimed. “When I realized what he was saying, I pulled the car over in the parking lot and just cried.”
After returning to the pharmacy later that night with her father, she was refused a second time, Richards said. She said that when she was contacted by another Brooks pharmacist Tuesday to tell her the prescription was ready, it was too late for the so-called emergency contraception, which needs to be administered within 72 hours. New Hampshire is one of many states that allows pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for any reason. Executive director of the New Hampshire Board of Pharmacy Paul Boisseau, said, however, that the pharmacist should refer the customer to an alternate dispensary. The same policy is held by the American Pharmacists Association, which, although allowing a “conscience clause,” requires pharmacists to refer patients to an alternative source. Pharmacists for Life International president Karen Brauer told local WMUR Channel 9 News that requiring pharmacists to refer the patient to someone who will fill the prescription is “stupid.” “If we're not going to kill a human being, we're not going to help the customer go do it somewhere else,” she argued.
See also:
Texas Pharmacists Fired by Eckerd Corporation for Ethical Stand on Morning-After Pill
Email Brooks Pharmacy Headquarters
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
Another Pharmacist Still Fighting Charge of Unprofession Conduct
MADISON — In May 2002, pharmacist Neil Noesen refused to fill a prescription for oral contraceptives on the grounds that to do so was in violation of his religious principles. LifeSiteNews.com reported in May 2004 that a woman had filed a complaint of unprofessional conduct against Noesen with the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing. Noesen refused to accept a settlement fine of US $250 and is contesting the charge.
Noesen faces possible fines or revocation of his license. His hearing on charges of unprofessional conduct was scheduled for September 23rd but was cancelled. The hearing has been rescheduled for October 11. Peggy Hamill, state director for Pro-Life Wisconsin, said that the cancellation of the hearing was “appreciated.” The question of conscience protection for pharmacists remains open. “No health professional should be punished for his deeply held religious convictions. Not only would this be an unconstitutional infringement on Neil Noesen's free exercise of religion, it would serve only to aggravate the already acute shortage of pharmacists in this state.”
Legislation which failed in 2003 would have protected pharmacists from discrmination “on the basis of his or her refusal, based on creed, to dispense a prescribed drug or device that the pharmacist has reason to believe would be used for causing an abortion or causing the death of a person.”
A rally was held to oppose conscience protection at the state legislature and was attended by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin political director, Chris Taylor. Taylor said, “If there aren't more pro-birth control legislators elected in November, the health care needs of Wisconsin women and families will be jeopardized.”
Hamill said, however, that conscience legislation would not restrict patients' access to drugs. She said, “It simply recognizes that employers cannot force pharmacists to directly participate in what they know to be the killing of another person.”
See also:
Wisconsin Files Complaint Against Pharmacist for Refusing Abortifacient Prescription
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
