by Michelle Williams

Created on: August 02, 2007

No, pharmacists should not be forced to violate their religious beliefs to sell anything, nor should anyone else. Freedom of practicing one's religion as one chooses is one of the basic freedoms we enjoy as Americans. No one should ever be forced to compromise their religion for any reason.

That being said, in the case of an independent pharmacy, religion doesn't have to come into play at all. They should be able to stock whatever they want by way of prescriptions and anything else they sell in their drugstore. If they don't like the Gatorade rep, they don't have to sell Gatorade. People who like Gatorade will have to go somewhere else to buy their drinks. If they don't want to sell Playboy magazine, they don't have to. It't their store; they can and should be able to sell whatever they want. And they shouldn't have to stand on religious grounds.

Now in the case of a large Pharmacy Chain, like Walgreens, for instance, a pharmacist should still be able to refuse to fill the prescription. But he or she should have to give it to another pharmacist to take the pill from one bottle and put it in another bottle for the customer. If he or she is opposed to this pill and Walgreens decides to distribute it, and it really bothers him or her that much, it's time to look for another job. At the drugstore that won't sell Gatorade.

But Walgreens should not be able to force the pharmacist to handle or distribute the pill if it violatews his or her religious stance.

If I was Muslim and my religion required me to pray facing Mecca a few times every day, and my employer forbade this, there would be a civil suit filed so fast by the ACLU that there'd would be skidmarks near the courthouse. And rightfully so; because my religion would dictate that I do this and I should have to compromise it for the sake of my job.

There is no difference between that analogy than that of a pharmacist whose religion forbids what they see, as abortion.

This is a no-brainer, folks. If someone wants the morning after pill and gives the prescription to Walgreens or CVS or whatever drugstore they choose, and the pharmacist on duty says they'll have to wait until someone else can fill it, or refuses to fill it on religious grounds, they can simply take the prescription somewhere else. Chances are they would have to wait a while if they took it to Walgreens anyway. But at least they'd be able to get some gatorade while they were waiting.

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