I am pro-choice, however I am also pro-choice for the business owners. If a private business wants to refuse to stock any item for any reason than they should be allowed to do so.

There is no relationship whatsoever in selling viagra and refusing to sell condoms other then there is a sexual aspect to both things. There is no irony or oddness or even hypocrisy in selling one without the other.

I believe some places are passing laws forcing a business owner to sell products that the state deems must be sold (I assume they don't dictate the profit margin, so those who are forced to sell it can just price it so high that it will never sell)

No one is harmed by a company's refusal to sell contraceptives. It isn't like there is any person in America who has only one place to purchase their contraceptives from.

Now ambulance drivers and similar emergency workers shouldn't be able to refuse their services. That is something completely different. That is something that could be life threatening.

Then why be a pharmacist? Seriously, if you can't suspend your own personal beliefs to ensure others also get to enjoy happy, healthy lives, why be a pharmacist? (or a doctor, or any profession that involves working with and helping other humans)

ALL drugs interfere with the natural course of life. Why are condoms any different than, say, heart medication?

The fact that these asshats will still stock viagra and the rest just makes me rage. RAGGGEEEE!!!

This is horrible. Way to restrict women's rights over our own bodies! At least most pharmacies aren't adopting this ludicrous ideology.

So what's the problem? If they don't have what you want, don't shop there. It's that simple.

Some stores choose not to carry pornographic magazines (some video stores refuse to carry porn, too). Some restaurants choose not to sell alcohol. I'm all for letting business owners choose what products they will sell and which ones they won't.

So what do you do if you feel that a business is encroaching on your rights?

Don't shop there.

You are my new hero...

Fine, as long as there is an alternative in the neighbourhood. And by neighbourhood I don't mean 30 miles away. A community where you can't buy condoms is going to find out that STDs don't care about your religion.

I *do* object to these examples though. If your religion doesn't allow you to perform certain acts, don't put yourself in a position where you might have to perform those acts. Compare it to a Muslim who works at a restaurant and refuses to serve pork.

Exactly right. That is the essence of the discussion.

If you are operating a pharmacy you should be required to provide every legal medication whether it is a contraceptive drug or not.

This should not necessarily extend to condoms since they are not a prescriptive.

The biggest problem is that some of these pharmacists have refused to give the prescription back to the customer after refusing to fill it.

That definitely needs to cost them their jobs.

At least we still have amazon.com

Most of these pharmacies are own by the dispensing pharmacists, or like minded people.

some states have enacted laws to cover this very topic

Then they need to be brought up on criminal charges. I'd say that amounts to theft.

The biggest problem I see with this is that there should be no area of health care where the practitioner gets to pick and choose what options are open to the patient based upon anything other than the needs of the patient. The only reason I'm not advocating breaking the law because of that statement is because, generally, what does get passed as law with regards to medicine helps to improve patient care. The job of a pharmacist is to provide the patient with the medications prescribed by the doctors that are caring for them. Period. The pharmacist is not involved in the decision-making process for determining the needs of the patient or selecting the medications for prescription: that is the doctor's job. For the pharmacist to inject their personal superstitions into the doctor-patient relationship is morally and ethically wrong on an enormous scale. If they are not willing to fulfill the requirements of the job, which they had to know by the time they set down the path leading to that profession, they should have chosen a different line of work. Likewise, female muslim surgeons who have objections to uncovering enough of their arms to properly scrub before surgery should not be in that line of work. When you take on the role of a caregiver over someone else's life, you must give up silly objections that have demonstrated profound negative effects on your patient's health and life.

If states are going to be backwards enough to allow this kind of practice to continue, they should at least mandate that a large, conspicuous notice to that effect be posted on the outside of the pharmacy near each and every entrance.

And a pharmacist that refuses to return a prescription they won't fill to a patient desperately needs to have charges of theft pressed against them and their license to practice revoked - actively working to interfere with someone else's medical care is an offense equal to that of at least reckless endangerment, if not attempted murder.

amen

They aren't withholding medicine, they're withholding contraceptives. That's a pretty big difference.

Yes, but how is it the PHARMACISTS decision as to what medicine the person gets? If I am in extreme pain and need morphine but the pharmacist is against narcotics, is he allowed to say I cant have the medicine? It is my right, and every other woman's right, to use contraceptives to prevent pregnancy. I should not be forced to go without contraceptives of any type just because a pharmacist thinks all women should get pregnant every time they have sex. What if a woman is on birth control to help with a medical problem? It does happen.

The Pill can actually be used as a prescriptive medicine. It is NOT always used primarily as a contraceptive. If a doctor prescribes medication to a patient, and said patient presents the prescription, who is the pharmacist to say otherwise?

You're not being "forced" to go without. They aren't coming around the counter and holding a gun to your head and forcing you to live a miserable life without contraceptives. You just can't buy them from that pharmacy. Simply take your business to another of the hundreds within your city limits.

Incidentally, companies are sure to notice this abrupt lack in business and will most likely react by putting these items back on the shelves. There aren't that many companies that put ethics before profit these days, so I seriously doubt this will become the norm.

Seriously. Don't sweat it.

If a company puts ethics above profits then I would be interested to know what their ethics are. Shop there when the ethics coincide with my own, take business elsewhere when they clash. Condoms should be excepted from the list since you can get those just about anywhere from pharmacies, to major chains, to truckstop bathrooms(for the particularly adventurous).

Still, "This allows a pharmacist who does not wish to be involved in stopping a human life in any way to practice in a way that feels comfortable" seems a bit shortsighted if not completely ironic since if a woman really doesn't want a baby, she can opt for an abortion if she gets pregnant.

If they have a problem of conscience that PREVENTS THEM FROM DOING THEIR JOB, they should be encouraged to work elsewhere!

Who are they to judge WHY a person needs a prescribed medication? BCP's aren't JUST to prevent conception, they are a valid treatment for endometriosis. Condoms save more lives than they prevent. The RU-486 pill can save thousands of raped women and children from a horrible fate.

I vote with my feet. Any store/company that allows this (Walmart, Target) doesn't get my dollars. And I strongly encourage my friends to do the same. Even if I have to resort to using their children as a character in a terrible 'what-if' scenario.

Still, since when do pharmacists get to decide what medicine a person needs? If my doctor prescribes one type of medicine, the pharmacist doesnt get to say "OH, use this instead" (except in the case of generics). And what of the ones who dont give back the prescription? When they keep it, the person has to make another trip back to their doctor and hope they can get a second copy without too much hassle. If you are in a profession, you should accept all parts of it. If you dont agree with a part of it, then find a different profession.