Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114980

Sondra Goldschein, JD, Reproductive Freedom Project, American Civil Liberties Union, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10010, 212 549 2628, sgoldschein@aclu.org

A pharmacist in Wisconsin refused to refill a prescription for birth control based on a religious objection. When asked to return the prescription, the pharmacist refused. When asked by another pharmacist at a nearby pharmacy to transfer the prescription, the pharmacist again refused. As a result, the patient was forced to wait two days until her prescription was filled.

As more reports surface about pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions that they object to based on religious grounds, we must examine the rights and obligations of the pharmacist and the pharmacist's employer, as well as the rights and health care needs of the patient. This presentation will explain how the federal constitution neither requires nor forbids a religious exemption to a legal duty to provide health services, and will provide a policy framework that balances patient autonomy and gender equality with protection for individual religious liberty. The presentation will also provide a primer on federal anti-discrimination law, which imposes some obligation on the pharmacist's employer to accommodate the pharmacist's religiously based objection to an employment requirement. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of the disciplinary action brought against the Wisconsin pharmacist, which raises many of the legal and policy questions discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to understand the legal framework governing when a pharmacist can refuse to fill a prescription and articulate ways to accommodate the pharmacist’s religious refusal while protecting the patient’s access to prescription medication.

Keywords: Access to Care, Contraception

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.