BEWARE THE COUNTERPUNCH

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A PRESCRIPTION OFFENDS A PHARMACIST'S BELIEFS?

Michelle Crider, 28, was speechless. The pharmacist had just said, "No." The married mother of a two-year-old daughter, Crider was concerned that she might become pregnant after having intercourse with her husband. She called her doctor, who prescribed a so-called morning-after formula: four birth-control pills to prevent implantation of a fertilized egg, a use consistent with recent regulations from the Food and Drug Administration. Then the doctor called Crider back: the pharmacy manager at Longs Drug Store in Temecula, California, had refused to fill the order, citing his moral beliefs.

The pharmacist, John Boling, had support. The 6,000-member California Pharmacists Association...

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