Pro-Life Drugstores: Just Fill The Prescription

The idea of a drugstore not filling out a prescription based on moral objections is a chilling:

"When DMC Pharmacy opens this summer on Route 50 in Chantilly, the shelves will be stocked with allergy remedies, pain relievers, antiseptic ointments and almost everything else sold in any drugstore. But anyone who wants condoms, birth control pills or the Plan B emergency contraceptive will be turned away.

That's because the drugstore, located in a typical shopping plaza featuring a Ruby Tuesday, a Papa John's and a Kmart, will be a "pro-life pharmacy" -- meaning, among other things, that it will eschew all contraceptives."

Lots of debate about a business owner's rights vs the rights of the consumer and also the right of the state. Since pharmacists are licensed, the state can grant those licenses with provisions, one which could be that they have to fill out prescriptions.

If a store doesn't want to sell condoms, or porno mags or Chunky Kit Kats, that's fine - every store can decide what products it carries and which ones it doesn't. Where the trouble starts is this idea of denying medicine based on moral grounds - what if a pharmacist doesn't want to prescribe medicine to a person of a different faith? A different race?

If the doctor has prescribed it, then the pharmacist should fill the prescription. It's not their imperative to pass moral judgments on what kinds of medicine people should have. Besides the obvious the use of contraception, birth control pills can also be used to help women regulate their menstrual cycle.

Of course, there's no mention that the pharmacy won't carry Viagra...