Demonstrators speak out against refusal to fill ‘morning-after’ pill prescription

08:50 AM CST on Tuesday, February 3, 2004

By Josh Baugh / Denton Record-Chronicle

Dozens of demonstrators gathered in front of an Eckerd pharmacy Monday protesting three pharmacists’ decision not to fill a "morning-after" pill prescription for a rape victim.

The three pharmacists had moral objections to giving out the pill, which is used to prevent pregnancy.

DRC/Al Key

Gracy Marshall, left, Gloria Benavides, center, and John Michels protest Monday evening in front of Eckerd on University Drive. About 40 people showed up to protest three pharmacists’ refusal to fill a prescription for the "morning-after"pill for a woman who had been raped.

Joan Gallagher, the vice president of communications for Largo, Fla.-based Eckerd Corp., said the company doesn’t condone the actions taken by those pharmacists and the appropriate action has been taken.

"Apparently there was a request for a prescription to be filled and the prescription was denied based on a moral or ethical decision made by the pharmacist, and that’s not in accordance with our corporate policy," she said. "A prescription is filled regardless of one’s religious, moral or ethical belief. Failure to comply would result in disciplinary action, and that has occurred."

Gallagher said she could not give specifics about the action taken.

Elizabeth Graham, director of Houston-based Texas Right to Life Committee, said the pharmacists had a moral right to refuse to fill the prescription.

"It’s a shame," Graham said. "No health care provider should ever be forced to participate in something in which he or she is morally opposed."

A friend of the rape victim, who wished to remain anonymous so that no one would be able to identify the victim through him, said that he and the victim went to the pharmacy on University Drive in Denton on Jan. 23 to get the "morning-after" pill prescription filled. The victim’s doctor had prescribed the pill because of the rape.

"A pharmacist came to the window and said, ‘I understand this is under the most dire of circumstances, but I can’t allow you to have this pill,’" said the victim’s friend, who was trying to pick up the prescription for the victim. "I was thinking it was some sort of health thing, and he said, ‘I can’t give it to you because it ends life.’"

The friend said he couldn’t believe the response and asked for one of the other two pharmacists on duty but was told they were all in agreement with not filling the prescription.

He eventually had the prescription filled across the street at Walgreens, he said.

The rape victim declined to be interviewed.

On Monday, about 40 people gathered outside the Eckerd store on University Drive. Many had heard about the incident through an item in last week’s Dallas Observer, while others had heard through word of mouth.

Some protesters stood silently, holding signs with phrases such as, "Got raped? Let someone else help you ... Eckerd’s won’t!" and "Rape violates my morals."

Others chanted, "One, two, three, four, Eckerd’s is a lousy store! Five, six, seven, eight, no more violence, no more rape!"

Protesters who heard that disciplinary action had been taken against the pharmacists said that didn’t take away the need for a protest.

"I think it’s a good move in the right direction, but telling people that this sort of thing happens is something that needs to be done," said Andrew Scherbarth, a University of North Texas student. "Getting her story out needs to happen."

Many said they were using the incident at the Eckerd store to raise awareness in the community.

Shaureece Park and her 9-month-old daughter, Alana, were wearing signs reading "Born by choice," and "What if it was your daughter?"

The protest could show other pharmacies that they need to review their policies on filling prescriptions, Park said. The protest is about the ability to make choices, she said.

Several members of the UNT chapter of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance lined Elm Street holding signs and chanting.

Becky George, a UNT junior and chairwoman of the association, said the pharmacists overstepped their boundary.

"Doctors write the prescriptions and they’re just supposed to fill them," she said, pointing toward the Eckerd pharmacy. "It’s not the pharmacists’ decision."

Gay Dodson, executive director of the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, said that state law allows pharmacists to not fill prescriptions if the prescribed medication could harm the patient.

"The law does not say that the pharmacy can decline because of moral ground," she said.

Dodson said her agency has received inquires from pharmacists about similar situations surrounding the "morning-after" pill, but she’d never heard of any actual actions taken by them.

"If you feel like you can’t fill it, then find a pharmacy that can fill it and send them there," Dodson said.

That concept is part of company policy for Walgreens, said spokesman Michael Polzin from corporate headquarters in Deerfield, Ill.

"Our approach on things like this is that if a pharmacist has moral objections to dispensing a certain medication, he should ask another pharmacist at that store to fill the prescription instead," he said. "If there’s not another pharmacist available to fill it, he should refer the patient to the closest Walgreens to have it filled there."

Gallagher said customers come first for Eckerd. Pharmacists are obligated to fill the prescriptions, she said, but if they have moral problems, they should defer to another pharmacist.

Stephanie Besier of Denton recently took her prescriptions from the Eckerd location out of protest and brought them to pharmacists at Walgreens.

"I was horrified," she said. "I’m telling anyone who will listen about what happened."

Amy Acker, a student at Texas Woman’s University, helped plan the protest.

"We want to gain awareness," she said. "I think the community would be shocked and appalled that something like this happened here."

Dallas Morning News writer Katie Menzer contributed to this report.

JOSH BAUGH can be reached at 940-566-6881.