Good news

Pharmacist refuses to fill prescription

CVS pharmacists, acting on their religious or moral beliefs, can refuse to fill contraceptive prescriptions as long as they make sure the customer can get the medication when another pharmacist is on duty or at another CVS store, company officials said yesterday.

"Our policy is to fill prescriptions for all customers in a timely manner and to make sure their needs are met and that they are satisfied," Eileen Howard Dunn, vice president of corporate communications and community relations for CVS, said yesterday. "As an employer, however, we must also accommodate a sincerely held religious conviction that may prevent a pharmacist from dispensing a certain prescription."

Dunn's remarks came in response to media reports of a woman who was temporarily denied the "morning-after" contraceptive pill at the CVS pharmacy on Tiogue Avenue in Coventry last Friday.

Dunn, who declined to identify either the patron or the pharmacist, said that the customer pulled up to the store's drive-up window at about 10 p.m. The pharmacist on duty at the 24-hour store refused to fill the prescription because it conflicted with his or her personal beliefs, Dunn said.

Instead, Dunn said, the customer was given the option of either returning to the store the next morning or having CVS send the prescription to another 24-hour store, in Warwick, where it could be filled immediately.

It's nice to hear of a corporation actually standing up for the integrity of its employees' consciences for once. Usually they take the line that "It's our business, and if you don't want to do it, you can go work for somebody else." In other words: Who cares about your deeply held beliefs? Conform, conform, conform!

CVS isn't like that, I guess. Good for them. I'm certainly glad there's a CVS in Athens that I can patronize when I go back to school ...

For what it's worth, I'd add that the "morning after pill" isn't a contraceptive. It's an abortifacient. Actually, most contraceptives are abortifacient. There are a lot of girls who wouldn't ever think of getting an abortion - lots of women even in the prolife movement - who are just on the birth control pill, and don't realize that the chemicals they put into their body terminate early pregnancies.

The above incident occurred in Rhode Island, by the way. You can read the entire article, including the typical tripe from Planned Parenthood ("Oh no! The girl had to come back the next day! What a terrible tragedy!") here. Bugmenot username: pap@pap.com, password:papapa.

Found this article via CWN.