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Pharmacist Gene Herr’s decision to not fill a rape victim’s morning-after pill prescription raises moral and legal questions. Should pharmacists be allow to follow religious and moral convictions when filling precriptions?

bq.. DENTON —A rape victim, wanting to guard against an unwanted pregnancy, tried to fill a prescription for the so-called morning-after contraceptive pill at an Eckerd pharmacy.

But in a decision that cost him his job, pharmacist Gene Herr, citing religious convictions, turned her away.

Herr’s decision and Eckerd’s response angered people on both sides of the abortion debate, reigniting a discussion over whether pharmacists should be able to follow their religious and moral beliefs when dispensing drugs.

_”I don’t think it’s fair that I be forced to participate in a chain of events that results in the taking of a life,” Herr said. “I feel like what Eckerd wanted me to do, they were forcing me to do something that I see is wrong.”_

But Eckerd spokeswoman Joan Gallagher said the company’s employment manual makes it clear that pharmacists are never allowed to decline to fill a prescription for moral or religious reasons.

p. [ Full Story @ The Houston Chronicle ]

p. Source: The Houston Chronicle© 2004 The Houston Chronicle

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