Morning After Battle

It was an active week in the on-going legal battle over the prescription of the Morning After Pill (Plan B) in Washington State. Amidst legal challenges to a state-wide regulation that requires pharmacists to fill all valid prescriptions, a federal judge in Tacoma said pharmacists can still deny customers the morning after pill if they have moral objections to the use of the pills.

The ruling came the same week NARAL Pro-Choice Washington published a web-site documenting which pharmacies which do not stock Plan B based on moral objections. The map also noted which pharmacies employed pharmacists who personally refused to prescribe Plan B to customers. The research that went into the creation of the site found that 10% of Washington State pharmacies do not stock or have at least one member on their staff who refuse to prescribe the morning after pill due to moral or religious beliefs. Seattlest counted 12 pharmacies located in Seattle or King County which do not fill Plan B prescriptions.

photo courtesy of flickr user: pave_m