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Walgreens issued a statement defending the right of its pharmacist to refuse to fill an order based on ethical or religious grounds.
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Walgreens issued a statement defending the right of its pharmacist to refuse to fill an order based on ethical or religious grounds.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
When Nicole Arteaga, 35-5, entered Walgreens in Peoria, Arizona last Wednesday, she was nine weeks pregnant. But, she says, her doctor told her that the development of her baby had stopped. She wrote in a detailed post on Facebook that her doctor told her that she "finally [would] Have a miscarriage. "
Arteaga says the doctor gave him two options, a surgical procedure or a prescription drug called misoprostol. Misoprostolis is approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration for what is called a medical abortion.
Misoprostol, according to PubMed, prevents stomach ulcers and can cause miscarriages.
Arteaga opted for the drug. But she says that when she went to get the pills, the pharmacist refused to give them, citing her own ethical reasons.
Arizona is one of six states that allows pharmacies or pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for religious or moral reasons, according to the National Center for Women's Rights.
Arteaga wrote in his post, which was shared more than 36,000 times: "If you have had a miscarriage, you know the pain and the emotional roller, I left Walgreens in tears, shamed and humiliated by a man who knows nothing of my struggles, but believes that it is his right to refuse the medications prescribed by my doctor. "
After she was denied service at the pharmacy, she said that she had received an e-mail notice saying that her prescription was ready to be picked up at another location in the city. She was able to take the drugs there.
Walgreens did not immediately respond to NPR's phone calls, but in a statement posted on its website Monday, the company announced that it was reviewing the incident, and that its representatives had reached out in Arteaga.
According to the statement, Walgreens pharmacists are allowed to "fail to fill an order for which they have a moral objection" and in this situation, the pharmacist was "obliged to refer the prescription to another pharmacist or manager on duty to meet the patient's needs in a timely manner. "
The Arizona State Board of Pharmacy announced Monday that it was planning to investigate what happened with Arteaga. The AP reports that the board wants to consider whether pharmacist Walgreens has actually followed Arizona's law:
"Arizona is one of many states with a" conscience clause "law that allows health professionals to refrain from assisting with abortion, Abortion, emergency contraception or emergency contraception.
Kam Gandhi, the executive director of the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy, told AP that the state's "conscience clause" law needs to be clarified.
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