The Federal Food and Drug Administration approved a move Thursday to offer the emergency contraceptive Plan B over the counter. The morning-after-pill is already available by prescription and can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
This new ruling only applies to those 18 and older and pharmacies must check ID.
Jim Ramseth with Covington Pharmacy says you won't see it at his pharmacy because the drug goes against his moral beliefs.
"It's not just our therapeutic knowledge that makes you good at what you do, but it's your ethics, morality, and everything else," he said.
The federal ruling comes in the midst of a statewide debate. Earlier this month nine local women filed a complaint with the Washington State Board of Pharmacy after they struggled to find Plan B at some stores in Lacey and Olympia.
Ralph's Thriftway, which was cited in the complaint, refused to stock the drug on moral grounds. Albertsons' Sav-On in Olympia, Walgreens, and Rite-Aid in Lacey were just out of stock.
"It took over two hours and I don't have a car," said Samantha Margerum, one of nine who filed the complaint. "I don't have a car so I had to have a friend drive me. If I was taking the bus, it would have taken much longer."
Steve Saxe with the Board of Pharmacy said the state does not require pharmacists to fill prescriptions they do not feel comfortable filling, but it does have a stocking requirement that says "a pharmacy must maintain at all times a repressentative assortment of drugs in order to meet the pharmaceutical needs of a patient."
"How this ruling, as an over the counter drug affects our current stocking rule, we'll have to look at that," Saxe said.
Supporters of Plan B say the federal ruling doesn't go far enough.
"Young women won't have access to the drug and if the FDA sticks by its original ruling you will still have to ask a pharmacist for it, it will still be behind the counter," said Lisa Stone with the Northwest Women's Law Center.
Bartell Drugs and Walgreens say it will carry Plan B over the counter, once the FDA requirements take effect later this year. Other major pharmacies say they will have to analyze the FDA ruling before making further decisions.
Ramseth says no one can force him to carry the drug.
"I can't imagine a physician will be forced to take a patient he doesn't want to. I mean can a ditch digger be forced to dig a ditch?" he said.
The State Pharmacy Board may have the last call. It is considering a proposal on rules for pharmacists who refuse to fill certain prescriptions.
A proposal drafted in June allows refusal so long as pharmacists offer patients other alternatives, like the names of pharmacies that carry the drug. The board will meet next week to discuss that proposal further.
Labels: No Prescription, Online Pharmacy, Prescription Drugs
# posted by Network @ 11:22 AM
