Complaint filed against pharmacists for declining to fill emergency contraception prescription refills

The New York Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed complaints with the New York State Department of Education's Office of Professions alleging that CVS and Rite Aid pharmacists refused to dispense refills of prescriptions for emergency contraception -- which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse -- the AP/Long Island Newsday reports.

The complaints were filed on behalf of three health care providers from Planned Parenthood Mohawk-Hudson who had prescribed refillable EC prescriptions.

According to one of the complaints, a pharmacist at a CVS in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in November 2005 said he would fill a woman's EC prescription but would not provide refills.

In addition, the pharmacist allegedly altered the valid prescription so that it listed no refills.

PPMH practitioner Claudina Ashelman-Owen spoke with the pharmacist's supervisor, who said women who had the EC prescriptions were "irresponsible," according to the complaint.

The supervisor allegedly defended the pharmacist's right to deny a refill, saying EC refills were a "bad idea," according to the complaint.

CVS spokesperson Mike DeAngelis said the company had not received the complaint and could not comment on the allegations.

He added that CVS' policy is to provide all prescriptions in a timely manner.

A separate complaint alleges that a pharmacy manager at a Ride Aid pharmacy in Gloversville, N.Y., questioned a woman's prescription because it listed refills.

The pharmacy manager disagreed with the prescription, saying EC should not be "treated as birth control," the complaint says.

Rite Aid spokesperson Jody Cook said the company's policy is to take all reasonable steps to fill a prescription.

The complaints will be reviewed by the Office of Professions and the state Pharmacy Board. Elisabeth Benjamin, director of NYCLU's Reproductive Rights Project, said the complaints are different from conventional EC complaints because pharmacists objected to filling a refill but agreed to provide the initial prescription.

Benjamin said, "[T]hese refusals seem to just be based solely on moralistic assumptions of women's sexuality."

According to the AP/Newsday, calls to the Office of Professions were not returned immediately (Paskop, AP/Long Island Newsday, 8/15).