Georgia Among States Where Pharmacists Can Refuse Service

ATLANTA, GA — An Arizona mother whose unborn child's heart had stopped beating was denied medicine to terminate the pregnancy by a pharmacist last week. And, if that happened in Georgia — as is the case in Arizona — it would be legal.

Passed by the state legislature in 2001, a Georgia law governing pharmacists states that it "shall not be considered unprofessional conduct" for a pharmacist to refuse to fill any prescription "based on his/her professional judgement or ethical or moral beliefs."

Georgia law, according to the National Conference for State Legislatures, further states that a pharmacist shall not be required to fill a prescription for an emergency contraceptive drug and says that a pharmacist or the company the pharmacist works for can't be sued for damages because of it.

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According to a pro-abortion rights group, that makes Georgia one of just six states with laws specifically allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill a prescription because of their moral or religious convictions.

In Arizona, a woman was refused medicine on Thursday because of the pharmacist's personal beliefs. Nicole Arteaga, a 35-year-old mother, wanted to have a baby but, at her 10-week pregnancy checkup, learned that the baby's heart had stopped beating and that it wasn't developing.

A doctor prescribed Arteaga, who already had had one miscarriage, with a medicine to terminate the pregnancy. She went to a Walgrens in Peoria, AZ, with her 7-year-old son to get her prescription filled and to pick up some dinner and a movie for the evening.

But the pharmacist wouldn't fill her prescription because it goes against his beliefs. "I stood at the mercy of this pharmacist explaining my situation in front of my 7-year-old, and five customers behind only to be denied because of his ethic(al) beliefs," she said, according to AZ Central.

"I get it, we all have our beliefs. But what he failed to understand is this isn't the situation I had hoped for, this isn't something I wanted. This is something I have zero control over," Arteaga said, according to CNN.

The pharmacist told her to come back when he wasn't working or to go to another pharmacy. The pharmacist ended up sending Arteaga's prescription to another Walgreens, where she picked it up Saturday without a problem.

Like Georgia, Arizona state law doesn't prohibit pharmacists from refusing to fill prescriptions as long as they have moral objection. Walgreens' company policy which allows pharmacists to step back and refuse to fill a prescription if there is a moral objection. AZ Central reports Walgreen's policy says pharmacists are required to transfer the prescription to another pharmacist to help them get their medicine "in a timely manner."

According to the pro-abortion rights National Women's Law Center, Georgia is one of 26 states where pharmacists have been reported refusing either birth control or emergency contraception to women, citing personal beliefs.

The group claims that, in many cases, pharmacists who refused service also refused to transfer the prescriptions to other pharmacies. According to the NWLC, Georgia is one of just six states with laws specifically allowing pharmacists to deny service due to religious or moral beliefs.

"These refusals to dispense prescription contraceptives or provide (emergency contraception) are based on personal beliefs, not on legitimate medical or professional concerns ...," the group said in a report on the practice. "These refusals can have devastating consequences for women’s health."

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