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(Washington, DC) -- Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) held a press conference today with Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ), Representative Maloney (D-NY) and other members of Congress introducing the Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act of 2005 (ALPhA). The legislation states that if a pharmacist has a personal objection to filling a legal prescription for a drug or device, the pharmacy will ensure that the prescription is filled by another pharmacist employed by the pharmacy who does not have a personal objection, or transfer the prescription, ensuring it is filled in a timely manner.
"This law protects the right of a patient and a doctor to make personal medical decisions without having to clear them with the pharmacist's conscience at the corner drug store," said Rep. Wasserman Schultz.
Reports of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions have been documented in twelve states, most frequently surrounding the pharmacist's refusal to fill prescriptions for legal birth control. Since prescription birth control is the preferred choice of contraception for most women, the incidents of pharmacists refusing to fill these prescriptions disproportionately affects women.
"Make no mistake about this, the refusal to fill birth control prescriptions targets women and their choice of contraception, not men's," said Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz. "I have no doubt that if pharmacists were refusing to sell men condoms that this issue would have already been addressed legislatively. Our legislation will require the pharmacies -the businesses employing the pharmacists- to provide a woman with access to legal forms of birth control."
Even worse than the refusal by a small number of pharmacists to fill legal prescriptions, are documented reports of some pharmacists also refusing to transfer or return the prescription to the patient, essentially holding the patient's prescription hostage.
The Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act of 2005 recognizes that individual pharmacists may have religious or moral objections to filling certain prescriptions and does not force a pharmacist to fill a prescription to which they object. However, ALPhA requires the company employing the pharmacist to ensure that the prescription is filled, without harassment of the patient, in a timely manner consistent with the amount of time it would take the pharmacy to fill a prescription that is not personally objectionable to the pharmacist.
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