LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY eiredrake) NJ Bill requires Pharmacists to Fill Orders no Matter Beliefs

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) A pharmacy would be required to fill prescriptions for any drug it stocks such as birth-control pills regardless of a pharmacist's moral beliefs under a bill that cleared the Legislature on Monday.
The bill, approved 56-18 by the Assembly, establishes a pharmacy's duty to fill lawful prescriptions without undue delay and without consideration for a pharmacist's moral, philosophical or religious beliefs.
If a pharmacy doesn't have a prescription in stock, the pharmacy would have to either obtain it under expedited ordering or find a nearby pharmacy to fill the prescription.
The bill was approved by the Senate in June 2006 and goes to Gov. Jon S. Corzine for his signature.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Oddly enough when I search google for this, I find only five or six articles all posted to anti-choice websites. Funny that.

This issue is mostly effecting female reproductive choice. Since the people behind it hate women and hate the idea of them being free to do with their own bodies as they see fit. They'd rather see you all barefoot, naked and in the kitchen. Now, I'm not female, but the very idea that a pharmacist can deny someone prescribed drugs is a threat to everyone's liberty, not just women. It is especially absurd in that the drugs in question are being touted by the religious right as 'abortion drugs' when they do nothing of the sort. They use the same tactics of lies, distortions, hominem attacks, straw men and other fallacies that they do in every other aspect of any issue they find themselves forcing on people. This issue potentially effects me just as much as anyone and it effects all of you.

Personally, I can't believe this is even an issue that needs to be put into a law. Am I to be lectured before I purchase a Whopper at BK now too? Should we allow Muslim pharmacists to deny diabetics insulin made from pig pancreas? Should we allow a Hindu to allow someone with blood clots to die because he refuses to give them heparin, which is made from unclean cow liver/lungs? Should a Scientologist pharmacist be allowed to ignore someone's prescribed anti-psychotics because that religion believes modern psychology and psychiatry to be non-science?

The answer to all these is no, even from the right winger's perspective. So why the hell should Christian pharmacists be given a special right to do this? As far as I'm concerned the rights of these pharmacists do not outweigh the rights of the customers. Their rights to preach about their religion end when it begins to interfere with my rights. That's the bottom line. I go into a pharmacy because I need or want a particular drug. I am not going into a pharmacy to have some asshole tell to me about how I'm an evil person. This is no different than the rabid evangelicals chaplains in the military who demand that they be allowed to proselytize to everyone yet deny anyone else has a right to practice their own religion.

If you can't do the job, whatever your reason, then quit. It's one thing to expect your job to be reasonably accommodating when it comes to your religious beliefs. It is quite another to use your workplace as a pulpit to try to belittle the choices of others.


Edit:  Bill number is A992
Text of the Bill here from NJ state assembly site


Edit: Apparently it's the shortest bill ever

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.  Section 27 of P.L.2003, c.280 (C.45:14-66) is amended to read as follows:

     27.  a.  A pharmacist shall conduct a drug utilization review before each new medication is dispensed or delivered to a patient.

     b.  A pharmacist shall conduct a prospective drug utilization review in accordance with the provisions of this section before refilling a prescription or medication order to the extent he deems appropriate in his professional judgment.

     c.  A pharmacist shall exercise independent professional judgment as to whether or not to dispense or refill a prescription or medication order.  In determining to dispense or refill a prescription or medication order, the decision of the pharmacist shall not be arbitrary but shall be based on professional experience, knowledge or available reference materials.  A pharmacist shall not refuse to dispense or refill a prescription or medication order solely on the grounds that to dispense or refill the prescription or medication order would contravene the pharmacist's philosophical, moral or religious beliefs.

(cf: P.L.2003, c.280, s.27)

 

     2.  This act shall take effect immediately.

xposted here and to my livejournal.