Pharmacy Refusals

Are you getting the care you need? More and more often, the moral and religious beliefs of certain health care providers are limiting the public's access to health care. Many consumers are unaware that these providers refuse to perform certain services or give information that patients want, even when the law requires that they do so. Consumers do not find out about limits on services until they are denied care. By then it is often too late to do anything about it. This brochure arms consumers with the information they need before they make health care decisions.

This factsheet was updated in May of 2011, for the most recent Drugstore Dilemma fact sheet please visit here.

There have been increasing reports of pharmacists and pharmacies refusing to fill women’s prescriptions for birth control, including emergency contraception (the “morning-after pill” or EC). These refusals to dispense prescription contraceptives are based on personal beliefs, not on legitimate medical or professional concerns. The same pharmacists who refuse to dispense contraceptives because of their personal beliefs often refuse to transfer a woman’s prescription to another pharmacist or to refer her to another pharmacy. These refusals can have devastating consequences for women’s health.