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PEORIA, Arizona (AP) – The Arizona State Board of Pharmacy will investigate the complaint of a woman who says that a Walgreens pharmacist has refused to give her the medications needed to end her pregnancy after that his baby stopped growing.
The woman, whom the Arizona Republic identified as Nicole Arteaga, described in a viral Facebook post how she was publicly humiliated in trying to fill the prescription that would end her pregnancy – a pregnancy that she wanted but that had to be finished abort. 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, who was able to fill her prescription at a different location later, filed a complaint with the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy.
Kam Gandhi, executive director of the board, said that the agency had not yet spoken to Arteaga nor to the pharmacist. But he will aim to make 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 many states with a "conscience clause" that allows health care providers to refrain from aiding abortions. , to abortion or emergency contraception. The law stipulates that health professionals and pharmacists must formulate 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, should it be in the store, or should it be in the pharmacist's personal file?" he said. "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 indicated that she had contacted Walgreen's 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. The company has rejected 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."
In her article, Arteaga said that she generally did not want to make such a post on Facebook, but no woman should have to go through what she did.
She discovered that she was pregnant about two months ago and that she was being watched every week because of 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.
She said the pharmacist refused to fill her prescription in front of her child and five clients behind her online.
"I understand that we all have our beliefs," she writes. "But what he did not understand, is that it is not the situation I was hoping for, it's not something I wanted "It's something that I have no control over, it has no idea what it's like to carry a child to term and be unable to do it."
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