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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2006 > March > 13 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USHouse rejects pharmacists’ “right to choose”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia House balked Monday at passing legislation that would allow pharmacists to refuse on moral or religious grounds to fill any prescription that they believe could terminate a pregnancy.
But House members later agreed to reconsider their 82 to 78 vote, which was nine votes shy of a 91-vote majority. That left open the possibility that the measure could be brought back for yet another vote in the final hours of a marathon “crossover day.”
By tradition, bills that don’t pass at least one chamber by the end of crossover day are generally considered dead for the 40-day session. A bill similar to HB 1445 has already cleared the state Senate.
On a crossover calendar packed with 60 bills, the bill by Rep. James Mills (R-Gainesville) sparked one of the liveliest debates.
Mills argued that a pharmacist or pharmacy employee “should not be put in a position to lose his livelihood over his strong moral beliefs.”
He said his bill would give pharmacists protection similar to ones offered to doctors, nurses and hospitals that object to abortions and refuse to perform them. “He [the pharmacist] should have the right to choose,” Mills said.
Opponents argued that the bill is an attempt to interfere in women’s reproductive and could be detrimental to rape victims and other women who use certain contraceptives.
“I don’t understand how this General Assembly can continue to pass legislation that infringes on women’s rights,” said state Rep. Douglas Dean (D-Atlanta).
State Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan (D-Austell) argued that, if they passed the bill, lawmakers would be interfering with private decisions made by a woman and her doctor.
“We’re injecting ourselves once again in the bedrooms,” she said. “Control seems to be the theme of this Republican legislation. Control everything.”
State Rep. Jeanette Jaimeson (D-Toccoa) said passage of the bill could create a hardship in rural areas of her state that have only one pharmacy.
Mills’ bill says a pharmacist who puts in writing his or her objections to abortion would not have to fill a prescription if he or she believes the drug would have “the effect or possible effect of terminating a pregnancy.
It states that a pharmacist who rejects a prescription on that basis cannot be disciplined or face other recriminatory action. It requires that the pharmacist “make all reasonable efforts” to locate another pharmacist who is willing to fill the prescription.
On March 2, the Senate approved three anti-abortion bills, including one sponsored by Sen. Jim Whitehead Sr. (R-Evans) that would protect from disciplinary action pharmacists who refuse to dispense medication that terminates a pregnancy. Planned Parenthood and other groups have said they favor the Senate bill over Mill’s legislation and say it would not affect emergency contraception such as Plan B.
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