From the article, the script in question was for birth control pills...not RU486. RU486 would cause an abortion; regular birth control pills prevent, not terminate a pregnancy.
And for the record, not all scripts for birth control are for the prevention of pregnancy. The low dose of hormones in the pill can be used to regulate menstruation; lessen endometrial pain; and even assist in clearing cystic acne. A pharmacist would have no knowledge as to why a certain rx was prescribed. Antibiotic scripts can be written for STDs...or for something as common as a sinus infection. HIPAA regulations protect the patients right to privacy.
This pharmacist should have discussed his beliefs with his supervisors at KMart, and some plan of action regarding birth control should have been reached to protect the pharmacist's moral beliefs; KMart's non-discriminatory hiring practices; and the patients' right to have a script filled. However, if the pharmacist accepted the job at KMart without advising his supervisors of his religious issues with birth control, he is the one at fault. Also...the script is the property of the patient; ie., part of the patient's medical record. A pharmacist has no right to retain this record.
Regular birth control pills can also act as an abortifacient.
And for the record, not all scripts for birth control are for the prevention of pregnancy.
And even then they can act as an abortifacient.
This pharmacist should have discussed his beliefs with his supervisors at KMart, and some plan of action regarding birth control should have been reached to protect the pharmacist's moral beliefs
He did make his beliefs known, and to its credit his manager and K-Mart were at least initially supportive of him.
However, if the pharmacist accepted the job at KMart without advising his supervisors of his religious issues with birth control, he is the one at fault.
Earlier articles have pointed out that the pharmacist was very upfront about his beliefs before he was hired and he simply wasn't able to contact his manager at the time of this incident.
Also...the script is the property of the patient; ie., part of the patient's medical record. A pharmacist has no right to retain this record.
You and most of the other posters on this thread appear to be confused about what a prescription is. It is not a piece of paper or anything material that a pharmacist can possess or steal. A prescription is simply a medical order. For this pharmacist to have transfered a phoned in refill, he would have had to effectively re-prescribe it to another pharmacy. Since this would have been material participation in a potential abortion, he rightly refused. The patient merely needed to have her physician's office call the prescription in to a different pharmacy or wait until Monday when the regular pharmacists would be available at that K-Mart. She instead called the police and attempted to coerce the pharmacist into violating his religious beliefs. And to the chagrin of many pro-big-goverment posters on this thread, the police thankfully still have no legal authority to do so.
Wow. You're the 3rd person who hasn't read the thread.
I responded to all your comments about 2 days before you posted them. Start with post 19.