As the Food and Drug Administration wavers over whether to make emergency contraception available over the counter (the way it is in that ungodly country, France) I’m reminded of how many obstacles girls still have to trip over to get basic health services.
Not so long ago a pharmacist in Menomonie, WI, Neil Noesen, refused to fill a student’s prescription for birth control pills because he said he would suffer spiritually. He was accused of being unprofessional, and the case went to court.
A pharmacist’s job is to fill prescriptions and answer questions, not to moralize about customer decisions.
What if a girl wanted to buy a sexy bra, and the salesclerk said no because she felt it was inappropriate or too provocative? Or a checkout clerk refused to sell beer from the liquor aisle because he didn’t believe in drinking? Or a librarian refused to let you check out the New Testament because she was Jewish?
I’m a vegetarian, but when I waited tables, I delivered any meal a customer ordered, steak or tofu. If you can’t handle filling prescriptions you don’t agree with, don’t become a pharmacist.
The only time pharmacists should intervene is when they notice a patient’s prescription clashes with another medication, perhaps one prescribed by a different physician. Pharmacists should never second-guess a doctor unless they spot a harmful combination of drugs; the lines between the roles of physicians and pharmacists shouldn’t blur.
Pharmacists also have no business asking personal questions (such as whether a girl is using birth control pills for contraception.) They may not approve of every drug on the market, but their personal objections, religious or otherwise, shouldn’t prevent a patient from having a prescription filled. Whether she is on the pill because of cramps or because she’s having sex, a girl’s doctor prescribed her birth control pills. Presumably there was a patient-doctor discussion about her individual needs.
When men get Viagra, pharmacists never ask if they’re sleeping with their spouses, if they saved themselves for marriage, or if they’re in monogamous, heterosexual relationships.
Girls who come in with doctors’ prescriptions for birth control (and so who must be religiously at peace with their decision to go on the pill) have a right to have their prescriptions filled, no questions asked. If college girls feel they cannot safely fill their prescriptions, they are being intimidated out of their health rights.
Mr. Noesen’s attorney said any punishment would violate Noesen’s constitutional right to religious expression. Noesen’s right to religious expression is tied to his right to free speech: he is free to speak out against birth control or in favor of abstinence before marriage. Preventing a girl with a prescription from getting her pills goes beyond free speech.
If a pharmacist really isn’t comfortable filling a prescription, the pharmacy should be responsible for calling in someone who is.
Sexual activity is nothing new, and at University of Wisconsin, you don’t have to witness bartime to know many students are sexually active. Of course not all of them are. But personal decisions such as whether to abstain before marriage should be just that — personal. At the end of the day, if a girl wants to go on birth control, and a doctor prescribes her pills, she should be able to get them without fear of being grilled by a pharmacist whose religious views do not match her own. And if a girl needs emergency contraception, she should likewise be able to get it without difficulty. The morning after pill, NorLevo, has been available in France without prescription, without parent authorization and for free for teenagers under the age of 18 since January 2002. Let’s hope the FDA follows suit.
You have a right not to answer personal questions about your health. And you have a right to have your prescriptions filled. If you are refused service, take action.
It’s your business. Not mine.
Cynthia Martens ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in Italian and European Studies.
