May 19, 1999
'Morning-after pill' takes
abortion debate into pharmacies
___By Wendy Ruderman
___Religion News Service
___TRENTON, N.J. (RNS)-- Anti-abortion activists and lawmakers are working to make New Jersey the second state in the nation with a law giving pharmacists the legal right to refuse to fill prescriptions based on religious, moral and ethical beliefs.
___The push for the law sprang from the recent marketing of the so-called morning-after pill, the likely approval by the Food and Drug Administration of abortion drugs like RU-486 and Oregon's legalization of physician-assisted suicide.
___"Abortions have gone from being a medical procedure to being just a pharmaceuticalprocedure," said Gene Rigozzo, head pharmacist at Hopewell Pharmacy in Hopewell Borough, N.J. "I think the issue will actually become more debated and heated as more and more drugs that induce abortion hit the market."
___The question is, should pharmacists have the right to refuse to fill prescriptions simply because the drug clashes with their convictions? And if so, do pharmacists who turn women away have a professional duty to refer them to other pharmacists who will dispense the medication?
___In July, South Dakota became the first state to enact a law granting pharmacists the right to refuse to fill prescriptions.
___Rigozzo, who owns Hopewell Pharmacy, encourages the five pharmacists he employs to exercise their religious and moral beliefs while behind the counter.
___"They've all been told that they always have the right not to fill a prescription if they feel uncomfortable," Rigozzo said. Moreover, they don't have to tell the patient where else to get the prescription filled, he added.
___"There are probably 3,000 pharmacies in New Jersey," Rigozzo said. "For somebody to say that they are not going to be able to find it--I think they are just looking for an argument."
___Rigozzo is primarily talking about the drug Preven, which hit pharmacy shelves in October. It is made by Gynetics Inc. Anti-abortion pharmacists call Preven "emergency abortion," while the majority of pharmacists, doctors and Gynetics officials call the drug kit "emergency contraception."
___Rigozzo, who declined to express his opinion of Preven, said his store got its first supply two weeks ago. So far, no one has come in with a prescription.
___Preven is no different than ordinary birth-control pills, except women take a condensed, higher dose after having unprotected sex.
___For years, doctors have prescribed birth-control pills in high doses to prevent pregnancy after sex. Gynetics, however, is the first U.S. company to market and package birth-control pills as emergency contraception.
___Unlike RU-486, which induces a miscarriage in women who are four to six weeks pregnant, Preven works only within 72 hours of unprotected sex. RU-486 is undergoing clinical trials in the United States. If it is eventually approved, it will be dispensed by doctors, not pharmacists.
___Preven stops a woman from ovulating and in some cases stops the fertilized egg from implanting itself on the lining of the woman's uterus.
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