To think if a pharmacist refuses to dispense medication due to religious or personal beliefs

[Soubriquet]

They shouldn’t be a pharmacist.

I mean, the morning after pill is healthcare. Your personal or religious beliefs shouldn’t come into this.

Think of it's made clear but in a discrete way. Maybe signposting to the nearest pharmacy who does prescribe the MAP.

A GP at local surgery didn't do referrals for pregnancy terminations due to personal beliefs and there was sign behind the reception saying this. So you knew to ask for another doctor

Oh just go to a different pharmacy.

It's happened to me. I don't have a problem with the principle, but I do think the pharmacist should have to put a clearly visible sign up when they're working to let their customers know, plus the details of the nearest pharmacy who will supply.

It was a conversation I'd rather not have had with the pharmacist in a large queue of people tbh. I was young and quite nervous.

Same with GPs. I'd rather know in advance if my GP has beliefs that are incompatible with referring me to the full range of health services so I can choose not to see them.

A friend had her abortion delayed by several weeks by such a GP - it felt deliberate to her tbh, but it could genuinely have been because another GP wasn't available, who knows.

How do you disagree with the MAP???? Do you disagree with all hormonal contraception? Or all contraception?

I got the MAP in my 40s as a mum of 4 from a quite embarrassed 20s male pharmacist 😀 we'd used other contraception and it had failed so MAP as didn't want to risk no 5!!!

How does that contradict a pharmacist's personal beliefs? Or do they mean certain women and girls shouldn't be allowed it/don't deserve it/should be punished for having sex?

Exactly this. ^ If someone takes on a certain job or career, and their religious beliefs mean they can't perform new tasks (like prescribing a MAP for a customer over the counter which is fairly recent,) then they need to retrain for something else, and let someone who can do the job properly do it.

As I - and other posters have said - isn't it interesting how all these rooolz in these organised religions (pretty much ALL of them) seem to affect women. As a pp said, no MAN would be having to go to the other side of town to another pharmacist, because these rules never affect men.

And you can see the privilege oozing from some in this thread; suggesting women just fuck off to another pharmacist to get their meds! Not everyone has transport, and like in my market town, the next closest pharmacist is 12 miles away! Also, what if the next pharmacist won't supply what you need 'because religion?!' And then the next and the next and the next!

I re-iterate. If they can't fulfil the role properly, they need to retrain for a new career. Maybe something where they are not supposed to be helping women in need of medical help!

Not urban legend sadly, it happened to me about 15 years ago. The pharmacist was muslim and refused to give me the morning after pill as his beliefs didn’t allow it. He did suggest another pharmacy that would though, so that was nice of him. 🙄

I can't see in the news that this has happened recently.

I hate these vague types of posts without any context.

Why on earth would it be in the news? It's been the case for years.

Like those people whose religion doesn't allow them to drink alcohol, then get a job in a supermarket and refuse to restock the wine aisles or check out customers with a few bottles or cans in their trolley. Work somewhere else like B&Q.

I do not think that should be allowed either within the nhs. You do the job in its entirety, or do a different job.

And why would the burden be on women who were refused Map have to take their case to the media so you can see the issue?

The burden should be on pharmacists to declare how many women they have stopped from accessing the MAP and those figures should be published.

Where I used to love there was only one pharmacy for miles and public transport was shit. Why should someone have to go to another pharmacy which may not even be possible for time sensitive medication just because someone refuses to do their job?

I don't think we want to lose people who are excellent at their job but have objections to certain elements of it based on their own moral code. However, to protect the public I think they should sign a conflict of interest declaration and that all roles should have an impact assessment about how fulfilment of those roles may be affected by certain objections.

So, someone who objects to dispensing the MAP can work in a city where there are plenty of other pharmacies available within walking distance, or maybe in a pharmacy where there are two members of staff on and the other pharmacist doesn't have that objection, but can't work alone at a remote pharmacy providing weekend cover for example.

NHS staff are not paid a salary to impose their ethical or moral stance on patients - What would happen if a patient refused to be treated by a medical professional of a particular religion race or sexual orientation 👍☘️🙏🏽

They are, but they are dependent on prescriptions coming from the NHS. So they should act in the patients best interests, or not be allowed to dispense for the health service.

When I worked in a GP practice it was so frustrating to see women and young girls have their terminations delayed by weeks sometimes trying to get a GP to refer. They all worked part time so to catch a GP happy to sign the referral was usually a few days. YADNBU

This is not true. (In the UK at least)

In answer the original OP, of course they can but they should organise to refer you to someone that will dispense the MAP.

Go to another pharmacy. Doctors can also refuse to perform abortion for religious beliefs.

You say that, but I do some work with victims of sexual and domestic violence. Some women are incredibly tightly controlled. I am at the very periphery, yet I have met several women who have had children because they could not access map or an abortion.

Perhaps a woman has taken risks to get to that chemist, perhaps this is her only chance. No, it is nit that common, but it should never, ever be allowed to happen.

That works for lots of people, but there are many reasons why this is simply not possible for everyone. Usually those most vulnerable are those who pay the price.

I think pharmacists should have the right to refuse to dispense medication if it's against their moral/religious beliefs but most pharmacies have more than one dispensing pharmacist available at some point during the day, or the person concerned could go to a different pharmacy for their prescription. I doubt very much that one pharmacist's refusal to dispense a particular medication would stop the patient from being able to get their prescription dispensed.

Then it should be declassified to the same as paracetamol/canestan etc, that you can buy in the supermarkets with no one supervising. I doubt it’s addictive, which is what controlled drugs usually are.

Some people do indeed disagree with all contraception.

Plenty of others don't have a problem with contraception that prevents the sperm meeting the egg, but they have the conviction that human life begins at conception - and if conception has (or could have) taken place, they refuse to be in any way responsible for ending that human life.

I used to work with a number of gynecologists. The ones who refused to perform abortions were generally the ones who specialized in fertility. So I think it wasn't so much that they had ethical or religious objections to the principle of abortion, but more that they spent the majority of their days working with women to help them become pregnant and have babies, and so over time, felt less and less comfortable with also being involved in doing the opposite. Should they then have to retire or change their specialty completely? I don't know - but that seems unfair to the hundreds of women they helped (and its not as if we're overrun with qualified health professionals).

That's by no means the only criterion for drugs being controlled.

Insulin for people with diabetes isn't available in the UK without a prescription - even though it's the same stuff that most people already produce plentifully in their own bodies.