Pharmacy Refusals

Refusals to fill prescriptions for emergency and other contraceptives are rising. We’re working to defend women’s access to these prescriptions.

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Reports & Toolkits | Duty First: Towards Patient-Centered Care and Limitations on the Right to Refuse for Moral, Religious, or Ethical Reasons

March 31, 2011

This article provides an overview of the harm to patients caused by refusals to provide health care based individuals’ or institutions’ religious, moral or ethical beliefs.  The article argues that any law or policy allowing health care providers to refuse services to patients must emphasize providers’ duty to their patients.   The article examines existing refusal laws, and describes how they contravene medical ethics and undermine established principles of quality medical care.  The article concludes with recommendations for heightened patient protections which limit the burden of refusals currently imposed on patients.

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Fact Sheet | HHS Rescinds Portions of Health Care Refusal Rule that Threatened Women’s Health

February 18, 2011

The Department of Health and Human Services partially rescinded a regulation entitled, “Ensuring That Department of Health and Human Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or Discriminatory Policies or Practices in Violation of Federal Law,” which went into effect under the Bush Administration.  These changes restore critically important protections for patients.

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Reports & Toolkits | Ask! Will the Moral or Religious Beliefs of Your Health Care Providers Limit Your Access to Health Care or Endanger Your Life or Health?

December 22, 2010

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.

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Webinars & Presentations | Making the Grade on Women's Health 2010 Webinar

December 09, 2010

This resource contains the slides from the Making the Grade on Women's Health 2010 webinar.

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Fact Sheet | Drugstore Dilemma: What to Do If Your Pharmacy Won't Give You Birth Control Pills or Emergency Contraception (the "Morning-After Pill")

November 15, 2009

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.

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