This was sent to me by one of my strange, radical, liberal friends who is a passionate non-supporter of George Bush. And imagine that, my friend thinks that we should be concerned about pharmacies that think it’s okay for their staff to inflict religious beliefs into their practice and not fill prescriptions ordered by a patient’s physician. Imagine that, to find such a practice offensive.

Of course, I’m just venting out some sarcasm, and what ignites my passion more than anything is that this should even be an issue. That a pharmacist working in a public outpatient pharmacy should have the audacity to refuse to fill a prescription for birth control bills? Go work in a Catholic hospital if such outrageous customer demands offend you, is my answer.

I’ve already vented about this lunacy, and wasn’t really planning on doing so today, but my friend forwarded me the results of a survey done by Planned Parenthood. The results are important if you wish to spend your money at pharmacy chains which recognize the responsibility of their staff to do the job for which they are being paid, and those which think it is a-ok to allow their pharmacists to pick and choose which prescriptions they feel like filling.

In recent months PPFA surveyed the top 50 national pharmacy chains to determine their policy regarding pharmacists’ right to refuse to fill valid, legal prescriptions for birth control, including emergency contraception and categorized their responses based on our current pharmacy refusal policy.

The following pharmacies have not refused to fill prescriptions for birth control pills. Please give these chains your business.

Brooks Pharmacy/ Eckerd Corporation
Costco Pharmacies Albertson’s, Inc.
CVS Pharmacy Aurora Pharmacy, Inc.
Fagen Pharmacy BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc.
Harris Teeter Brookshire Brothers, Ltd.
Kmart Pharmacy Brookshire Grocery Co.
Price Chopper Supermarkets D&W Food Centers, Inc.
Super Valu Pharmacies Dahl’s Food Markets, Inc.
Discount Drug Mart, Inc.
Doc’s Drugs Ltd.
Duane Reade
Familymeds, Inc.
Food Lion, LLC
Fred’s Inc.
Fruth Pharmacy
Giant Eagle, Inc.
Giant Food Stores, Inc.
Great Atlanta & Pacific Tea Co, Inc (A & P Supermarket)
H.E. B. Pharmacies
Hy-Vee Food Stores, Inc.
Kerr Drugs
Longs Drug Stores
Medicap Pharmacies, Inc
Medicine Shoppe
OMICARE, Inc
Pathmark Pharmacies
The Penn Traffic Company
Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co./Price Wise
Publix Super Markets, Inc.
Safeway, Inc.
Shopko Stores, Inc.
Target Stores
USA Drug & Beauty Market
Wakefern Food Corp, ShopRite
Weis Markets, Inc.

The next list of chains, according to the survey, have permitted their pharmacists to make “moral” judgments and have refused to fill prescriptions. And apparently the chains think that’s okay. Please avoid these chains and tell them why. I see that Rite-Aid is on the list. They have a number of stores in Seattle. While I hardly ever shop there (their stores always seem so dingy and moldy), I will avoid them completely. And let them know why. And Wal-Mart has so many negatives going for it–as well as a number of lawsuits brought on by thousands of employees–that it would have to be the last store on earth for me to ever set foot in it.

Ahold USA
Walgreens
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Winn Dixie Stores Inc.
Rite Aid Corporation