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"So this just happened: a woman in New Mexico, Susanne Koestner, called the same Walgreens she&amp;#x27;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&amp;#x27;s why.&amp;quot;No pills for you!&amp;quot; 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. Let&amp;#x27;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&amp;#x27;s against their beliefs (but the pharmacist must refer the customer to another pharmacist who&amp;#x27;s on duty); 2) in 2008, Sarah wrote about a pharmacy in Virginia that just flat-out says &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; if you want contraceptives and, four years later, this kind of thing is apparently still happening. 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&amp;#x27;t have to dispense emergency contraception if they don&amp;#x27;t want to. Other states have &amp;quot;conscience clauses&amp;quot; that allow physicians and pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control and family planning services if they interfere with their &amp;quot;moral or religious beliefs.&amp;quot; In Koestner&amp;#x27;s case, the ACLU wasn&amp;#x27;t too impressed with how Walgreens handled things. The organization says the pharmacist&amp;#x27;s refusal constitutes sex discrimination: &amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; said ACLU-NM Staff Attorney Alexandra Freedman Smith. Meanwhile, Koestner had this to say: &amp;quot;Something is very wrong when a man can walk in to any pharmacy and buy condoms, but a woman can&amp;#x27;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.&amp;quot; Where do you stand on the issue? Do you think it&amp;#x27;s OK for pharmacists and physicians to refuse to dispense contraceptives and other medications and services when it&amp;#x27;s against their beliefs? More birth control debates: * Giddy Up! Gallup Poll Releases Report on Morality of Abortion and Birth Control; Planned Parenthood Responds. And YOUR Thoughts? * Are Conservative Women &amp;quot;Absolutely Appalled&amp;quot; by the Recent Attempts at Legislating Reproductive Rights? Weigh In! * Fired...for Using Birth Control? No, I&amp;#x27;m Not Kidding--It Could Happen! Photo: Thinkstock "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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