Your beliefs have nothing to do with my Rx

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

The email to the editor that jump-started this journalist’s career came in response to a managing editor’s 2005 column on the Kirk Road pharmacist in St. Charles who refused to fill a Plan B prescription on moral grounds. Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, some folks think the “morning-after” pill, which obstructs conception if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, is equivalent to an abortion.

Claiming the state’s “right-of-conscience” law only applied to physicians, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich imposed a rule requiring all pharmacists to fill all Plan B prescriptions, regardless of personal beliefs.

Two downstate pharmacists subsequently sued the state to overturn that statute. After the circuit and appellate courts dismissed their claim, they took it to the Illinois Supreme Court, which sent it back to the lower court for reconsideration. On April 5, citing the “right-of-conscience” law, a Sangamon County Judge sided with the pharmacists.

To be more specific, the “right-of-conscience” statute was enacted to “protect” health care providers from being compelled to provide treatments that violate their religious beliefs. Does anyone besides me see the obvious pitfalls here?

If it weren’t for the fact that most Catholics have enough sense to ignore the Pope, not only would Catholic pharmacists refuse to pass out oral contraceptives, but they wouldn’t be ringing up condoms either. Don’t laugh! It’s already happened in Australia and Canada.

Does this mean Buddhist druggists, who’ve vowed not to harm any living thing, wouldn’t sell antibiotics?

Of course, Jewish pharmacists wouldn’t fill Heparin prescriptions because that blood thinner is derived from pig intestines.

And I wouldn’t be bringing that bottle of 20-proof Nyquil to the Muslim druggist either, because they don’t condone alcohol use of any kind.

Taken to its ridiculous extreme, would Christian Scientist pharmacists refuse to give out any medications whatsoever?

Then we have the not so funny inevitabilities. What if a pharmacist decided he’d only dole out Viagra if the purchaser could prove he was married — and only having sex with his wife? What if the druggist refused to ring up a Three Musketeers bar for a morbidly obese customer? Could a pharmacist justify not dispensing AIDS medication because of the Bible’s prohibition against homosexuality?

Let’s not beat around the bush. Far more often than not, these pharmacist refusals aren’t based on any real moral grounds, but as in the case of the original St. Charles incident, on the recalcitrant druggist’s quest for his or her 15 minutes.

Why don’t we ever see a druggist balk at filling a prescription for the antidepressants that list suicide as a potential side effect? Why haven’t we heard of a pharmacist refusing to sell the sleep aid Ambien because it can lead to hallucinations that result in death? Despite the mounting evidence of the dangers involved, why didn’t pharmacies stop carrying the diet drug fen-phen before it was pulled from the market?

Of course, the organization that financed this recent Illinois ruling is the American Center for Law and Justice, which is a televangelist Pat Robertson’s ultra right wing construct that cozied up to the Bush White House and played a central role in the nominations of ultra-conserviate Supreme Court Justices Saul Alito and John Roberts.

Why is it that Republicans love to rail against the “nanny state” until they’re the ones watching the kids? God forbid anyone should encourage us to eat right, use energy-efficient light bulbs or drive fuel-efficient cars. That’s socialism! But as long as it’s something spewed by Fox News, then it’s just fine to have someone insist on thrusting their religious tenets upon us. Don’t we constantly trash Muslims for supposedly engaging in this kind of behavior?

I generally don’t like being this blunt, but if you’re a pharmacist or pharmacy owner, unless you’ve come across a potentially adverse cross-drug reaction, or you just want to have a friendly conversation, please shut up and fill my prescription.

You’re the one who’s undertaken the task of living with your faith’s constraints — not me. If you can’t fill all prescriptions tendered without bias, then maybe pharmacy school wasn’t the right choice. If your religious restrictions get in the way of passing out the Plan B pill, then maybe you shouldn’t have taken the job in the first place.

Thankfully, the state has vowed to appeal this ruling, which will likely end up back in the hands of our illustrious Supreme Court. I’d like to think they’ll do the right thing, but when a former Chief Justice’s prior legal experience consists of kicking field goals for the Chicago Bears, I’m not holding out much hope.

Jeff Ward can be reached on Twitter, @jeffwardsun; on Facebook or at jeffwardsun@sbcglobal.net.