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PEORIA, Arizona – The Arizona Pharmacy Council will investigate the complaint of a woman who says that a Walgreens pharmacist has refused to give her the medications needed to terminate her pregnancy after his baby stopped growing.
The woman, who Arizona Republic identified as Nicole Arteaga, described in a viral Facebook post how she was publicly humiliated by trying to fill the prescription to terminate her pregnancy – a pregnancy that she wanted, but needed to end because She was finally going to fail. She says the pharmacist refused to fill the prescription with other clients within earshot and she left the place in tears with her 7 year old child by her side.
Arteaga was able to fill her prescription at a different location later, and filed a complaint with the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy.
Kam Gandhi, executive director of the board, said that the agency has not yet spoken to Arteaga or the pharmacist, but that she will aim to do a full investigation before the next council meeting in August said Gandhi.
"It's obviously a sensitive issue, and we need to approach it delicately," he said. "If we put everything in order, we will present it at the August meeting."
Arizona is one of six states that allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions on moral or religious grounds without requiring a referral or transfer of the prescription, according to the National Center for Women's Rights. The law specifically mentions abortion drugs or emergency contraception, and says that health professionals like pharmacists must express their objection in writing.
Gandhi said that part of the law had not yet been interpreted by the board of directors.
"Should it be presented to the patient, must it be in the store or must it be in the pharmacist's personal file? "It's what's going on in the air."
Once the investigation is presented to the board, he may decide to dismiss the complaint or take other action. This could include a type of warning letter, civil penalties, voluntary surrender of licenses, or further studies, Gandhi added.
Arteaga also said that it contacted Walgreens' head office. On Monday, the company was tweeting responses to people outraged by the Arteaga message.
Some clients said that they were taking their prescription business elsewhere. Walgreens pushed several repeated answers. In one, the company said that she apologized to the patient about how the situation was being handled. He also stated that he was looking into the matter further, while another message was explaining the policies of the stores.
"Our policy allows pharmacists not to fill an order for which they have a moral objection," reads in the tweet. "At the same time, they are also required to refer the prescription to another pharmacist or service manager to meet the needs of the patient in a timely manner."
The company told The Associated Press on Monday that the pharmacist in question was the only one on duty at that time, so he called another place to serve the patient.
Gretchen Borchelt, Vice President of Reproductive Rights and Health for the National Center for Women's Rights, said the number of women concerned by these laws is not clear because few of them can be to manifest as Arteaga. Borchelt said her group had heard of women being denied prescriptions in at least 26 states since 2000.
"I think it's more than people realize," she said.
Tayler Tucker, a media representative for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, said the organization is advocating for a change in refusal policy since it was passed in 2009. She said that the law enters into the relationship between a woman and her supplier. to get sick by not properly treating a miscarriage, she says.
"We are literally putting people at risk by doing this and it is really a big concern," she said.
Arteaga discovered that she was pregnant two months ago and was being watched every week due to an earlier miscarriage. Last week, Arteaga's doctor told her that her baby had stopped growing and that she would have finally failed. Her doctor gave her the prescription after choosing to take medication to terminate the pregnancy instead of a procedure.
"I understand that we all have our beliefs," she writes. "But what he did not understand, is that it is not the situation I had hoped for, it is not something that I This is something that I have no control over.It has no idea what it's like to want nothing more than to carry a child to term and to Be unable to do it. "
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