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[the__lord]

Debate #1

Home: fireuzer

Away: imaybeparanoid

Topic: Pharmacists refusing to dispense the morning-after pill.

Comments

[ex_fireuzer]

It is the constitutional right of any business owner to refuse their service to any customer as long as the basis for their refusal isn't racially based. An underling, acting outside the will of his superior, may not do so and if he does consequences should be enacted, but ultimately the decision lies with the owner.

[the_lance]

Pharmacists have an obligation not to get between a patient/doctor decision. Pharmacies can choose not to carry certain drugs but not dispensing a drug that you have in stock in good faith to a patient is a disservice to the medical system and disservice to the patient. Unless there is a serious medical issue that needs to be taken up with a doctor (drug interactions in particular), a pharmacist can't put their own personal beliefs on their patients. If they had likely objections to the sorts of medicines they would be dispensing, they should get a job at a place that doesn't dispense the drug or they should really have reconsidered becoming a pharmacist. With birth control making up such a large portion of your pharmacy sales, why would you enter a field that you have issues with and why does the patients health have to be risked all because the pharmacist has some Jesus juice in his blood?

[ex_fireuzer]

When any person goes into business they do so knowing that they have the right to uphold their own morals.

If a pharmacist is willing to take a cut in his earnings to maintain a moral highground, it is not the responsibility of any governmental power to take that right away from him.

People in need of any medicine are likewise free to take their business elsewhere.

[the_lance]

Most cases involving pharmacist refusal to dispense are at national chains where they stock the drugs and would normally dispense the drugs. No, nobody can force you to stock a certain drug but certainly there should be no legal protections for a person who willingly refuses to fill a prescription based on their own moral beliefs. If the pharmacy does carry the drug, they have an obligation to fill as the morals of the pharmacist have no bearing on the morals of the patient.