Posted on 11/30/2005 7:18:46 PM PST by Tzimisce
(AP) Walgreen Co., the nation's largest drugstore chain by revenue, said it has put four Illinois pharmacists in the St. Louis area on unpaid leave for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception in violation of a state rule.
The four cited religious or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and "have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense, and in Illinois that is not an option," Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said.
A rule imposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in April requires Illinois pharmacies that sell contraceptives approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to fill prescriptions for emergency birth control. Pharmacies that do not fill prescriptions for any type of contraception are not required to follow the rule.
Ed Martin, an attorney for the pharmacists, on Tuesday called the discipline "pretty disturbing" and said they would consider legal action if Walgreen doesn't reconsider.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Wonder what the left will say when companies decide to begin their work days with a prayer meeting.
If they want to relocate to my area, I will be devoted to their services for the rest of my life. I mean that! Good for them.
A church is allowed to discriminate against your religion, that's established law. Walgreens ISN'T. The state ISN'T.
Hope they sue.
In that case, in Illinois, shopping at Walgreen's is no longer an option.
In that case, in Illinois, shopping at Walgreen's is no longer an option.
The new meaning of captitalism. "Do what the government commands no matter whether it is YOUR own business or not. And to think that there are people who thought owning and dispensing their own business was a mark of true capitalism.
Ditto: In that case, in Illinois,and my NEW YORK, shopping at Walgreen's is no longer an option.
This is PC taken to the extreme.
Government has moved from prohibitive regulation of business (you shall not sell) to affirmative regulation (you must sell). This presents us with a big change in the relationship of the citizen to his government, a change that will be destructive of liberty. A change that must be repealed or only bad things will occur.
On the same theory, what else will government soon be force stores to sell? If a pharmacy carries sexual material such as condoms, must it also carry a complete line including items for sexual activity that store management or employees would find offends personal beliefs? (lest it discriminate against any "orientation")
Now of course, the advocates of this type of regulation would never, never allow it to be used, for example, to force stores to sell firearms, even though this is a right that is really found in the text of the Constitution and not just recently discovered in its penumbra.
EMERGENCY???? It's an EMERGENCY that these people have sex?
This was posted yesterday.
Walgreens has to follow state law otherwise it risks lawsuits, fines, and losing pharmacy licenses.
Walgreens has offered the four disciplined employees jobs in missouri, where they don't have such a law.
Aside from the government involvement angle, I have a strange idea: If you don't want to dispense this stuff, then don't apply for a job at at a place that expects you to do it.
It's like a Jew getting a job at a pig slaughterhouse and then complaining about the non-kosher environment.
see post 11.
They had to do this or face big problems.
They also went out of their way and offered those pharmacists employment in other states where they don't have such an idiotic law.
I don't shop at Walgreens anymore -- I used to be a regular there -- ever since their blantant promotion of homosexuality. This is just one more reason to avoid them like the plague. They don't feel pain their conscience anymore, so hurt them in their pocket-book instead. Tell your friends.
I'm sorry but I must disagree with most who've posted. A pharmacist's job is to dispence prescribed drugs, NOT to impose his/her beliefs on you.
While you oppose the pharmacist imposing his/her beliefs on you, you have absolutely no problem imposing your beliefs on him/her.
But no one is requiring the pharmacists to use these drugs.
They chose a profession where they are given the privilege to dispense drugs which are regulated by the federal government. Apparently the state of Illinois has passed a law requiring those enjoying that privilege to also have the duty of honoring any legal prescription. I think it is perfectly sensible. If they don't like it, they can work to have the law changed, move to a jurisdiction without such a law, or move into a different profession.
I'm sorry, but I think the pharmacists are wrong here.
Nonsense. These pharmacists are in the business of filling prescriptions. If filling some of them causes them difficulty, they should find another job, or go to a pharmacy that doesn't have these drugs in house.
Does it bother them that most drugstores sell condoms over the counter?
Do your job, or find another.
This prescription is not a contraceptive. It is an abortificent.
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