Legislative support is growing nationwide that would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control, particularly emergency contraceptives, because of personal moral objections.
It's completely crazy
said Crystal Lander, campus program director for the Feminist Majority Foundation. This is another attempt taking away the power of women to make decisions about their own sexuality.
In states across the country, conscience clause legislation is becoming common. In Ohio, legislation has been introduced to amend the section of the Revised Code concerning the distribution of birth control medication.
If passed, the bill would allow pharmacists and medical personnel to refuse to perform abortions or to distribute medication that could result in abortion without suffering potential civil liability.
Lander believes conscience clauses will affect mostly young women who usually go to chain pharmacies. Women are also the largest customer base for pharmacies, and will not shop somewhere that tries to tell them what they can and cannot do in their personal life, she said.
The Ohio Pharmacists Association has taken a neutral position on the issue, said Ernest Boyd, executive director of Ohio Pharmacists Association. The opinions of the members are split, he said.
Currently, pharmacists can exercise their conscience as they see fit, but they must endure the consequences. This includes lawsuits or job dismissal, Boyd said.
Individual stores are creating their own internal policies on the issue of distributing birth control, hoping to stave off legislation said Lora Miller, governmental affairs director of Ohio Council of Retail Merchants.
Miller is reconfiguring the language with the bill's sponsors in order to minimize the burden on employers, she said.
The bill is currently stagnant, but probably will be introduced in the next session of Congress, Boyd said.
Pharmacists should have the same privileges as other professions, said Paul Weckenbrock, a board member of Pharmacists for Life, an anti-abortion group supporting conscience clause legislation.
The disturbing thing is that just about every other health profession has that option to opt out of procedures that would go against their conscience Weckenbrock said.
When Weckenbrock owned his own store, he did not distribute birth control or give referrals to other pharmacies to get it because he became clearly convinced of its ability to induce abortion. He is not faced with the issue at his current position at Mercy Hospital in Cincinnati, he said.
Weckenbrock said he has always been careful about where he worked so that he would not have to dispense birth control. He also has never referred customers to other pharmacies in order to obtain it.
This whole referral thing is really silly
Weckenbrock said. The pro-abortion people are trying to make that an issue
but it should not be an issue. Customers are free to go to any pharmacy they want, he said.
Cristina Lachowyn, a sophomore at Ohio University, said she would stop going to any pharmacy that did not distribute birth control to her.
A pharmacist's job is not to impose their beliefs on other people
Lachowyn said. They're paid to provide a service to people.
At Hudson Health Center, both pharmacists feel it is their duty to dispense birth control. However, if a pharmacist with objections to this starts to work there, the university would have to revisit the situation, OU media specialist Jack Jeffrey said.
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Ellie Behling
