Pharmacies banned from interfering with dispersal of "morning after" pill

• The American Medical Association voted Monday to put its weight behind legislative initiatives around the United States that would require pharmacies to fill legally valid prescriptions in the wake of recently publicized refusals by pharmacists opposed to dispensing the morning-after contraceptive.
• If the pharmacist or pharmacy has objections, they should provide an "immediate referral to an appropriate alternative dispensing pharmacy without interference," according to the resolution passed Monday by the AMA's policymaking House of Delegates.
• In April, Blagojevich issued an emergency rule mandating all pharmacies in the state that sell contraceptives to dispense them without delay.
• The AMA decided to weigh in because doctors wanted to ensure patients are getting the prescriptions they need without interruption at the pharmacy counter.
• If a pharmacist has a moral objection, there should at least be a plan to get the drug as quickly as possible to the patient through other means, doctors have testified at their annual meeting this week at the Chicago Hilton and Towers.
• "Pharmacists can remove themselves from filling prescriptions that they have moral objections to," Walgreens spokesman Michael Polzin said.
• "But we require them to either have another pharmacist at that store fill it, or, if another pharmacist is not on duty, to contact store management, and the store manager will make arrangements for that prescription to be filled at another pharmacy before the patient leaves the store."
• The intent of Walgreens' policy is to make sure a patient doesn't leave the store wondering where the prescription can get filled, Polzin said.
• In Illinois, the governor's rule requires pharmacies that sell medicinal products to dispense them if a patient has a prescription for any of those products for sale in that pharmacy.