2008 Woodie Awards
"Drugstore Cowboys" Panel Addresses Contraception and Choice
Scott Wachtler
Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: News
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 Media Credit: Scott Wachtler From left to right: Paul Garbarini, Rachel Laser, Holly Fernandez-Lynch, Mark Rienzi, and Teresa Collett. |
Picture this - a woman is given a prescription for emergency contraception. The woman takes this prescription to her pharmacist, but there is a problem. The pharmacist refuses to fill the prescription based on his or her religious beliefs.
Can a pharmacist refuse to fill prescriptions for moral reasons? This very question was the topic of discussion last week in the Ames Courtroom at Harvard Law School. About 40 people where on hand for the event to hear all sides of the issue.
The panel discussion - titled "Drugstore Cowboys" - was cosponsored by Harvard Law School for Choice, along with The Society for Life, Law and Religion. Moderator Holly Fernandez-Lynch introduced Paul Garbarini, pharmacist, attorney and professor at Northeastern University; Rachel Laser, Senior Policy Advisor, Third Way; Mark Rienzi, Attorney, WilmerHale; and Teresa Collett, Professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Garbarini and Laser spoke on behalf of HLS for Choice, while Rienzi and Collett spoke on behalf of The Society for Life, Law and Religion.
Rienzi answered the question posed to the panel about whether a pharmacist can refuse to fill a prescription. "I think the answer is that they should, and generally speaking, under our law they do," he said.
Rienzi said that the Constitution protects religious liberties. In addition, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act states that employers need to reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs and practices of their employers. Furthermore, some states have enacted Health Care Rights of Conscience legislation. This offers protection to people engaged in the delivery of health care services.
Rienzi believes that in most cases the issue of who supplies emergency contraception should be a solvable one. "Most would agree that there is no need to force any particular pharmacist to violate their religion when you can provide the drug some other way," he said.
Other ways would be to allow another pharmacist to fill the prescription or to allow theses drugs to be available over the counter.
Collett started by asking how much we wanted to restrict professional discretion. "Professionals are not vending machines," Collett said. "By the very definition of what they do, they must exercise judgment."
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