For Immediate Release: June 25, 2018
Contact: [email protected]
In response to reports over the weekend that a Walgreens pharmacist put his personal beliefs before a patient and denied a woman essential medication prescribed by her doctor, NARAL Vice President Adrienne Kimmell issued the following statement:
“No woman should ever have to face the humiliation of being discriminated against and denied essential medication or any other healthcare because of someone else’s personal beliefs. Healthcare should be guided by medicine, not religion or personal ethics. A women’s reproductive health decisions are between her and her physician. If healthcare providers and workers can refuse care to people they might disagree with, what we have is essentially a system of legalized discrimination, which runs counter to the very notion of healthcare. We hope Walgreens addresses this issue promptly and in a way that ultimately puts the patient first.”
Last Thursday, a Walgreens employee in Peoria, Arizona refused to fill a woman’s prescription for Misoprostol, saying it was against his personal ethics. The Walgreens employee refused to provide the medication, even though misoprostol is proven to be safe and effective.