BEWARE THE COUNTERPUNCH

By Elaine Lafferty/Los Angeles

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 last year adopted a policy allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions based on "ethical, moral or religious grounds," says Carlo Michelotti, the group's interim chief. "We supported this pharmacist's action. A pharmacist has a right to his moral beliefs. Did he do anything to interfere with a patient's care? In this case, relatively, no."

Crider's doctor eventually had the prescription filled at a Vons pharmacy. Still, Crider was enraged. "I'm no activist," says the former health-clinic employee. "But this was outrageous. I've had difficult pregnancies, and I wasn't ready to get pregnant again. This was a legitimate, legal prescription. Imagine if a woman who was raped had this experience. Is a pharmacist supposed to preach religion?"

And violate store policy. Longs has reprimanded the pharmacist. Says spokesman Clay Seland: "Our policy is that a pharmacist, if he has moral objections, should refer the prescription to another on-duty pharmacist, or to another Longs, or to a competing pharmacy, if necessary." Collisions between beliefs and access to medication will increase as controversial new drugs surface and unconventional uses for old ones increase--such as those used in physician-assisted suicide. A recent survey of 625 pharmacists showed that 82% of them believe they have the right to refuse to fill a prescription for a drug such as RU-486 that would facilitate abortions. A new era of conscientious objection may be dawning.

--By Elaine Lafferty/Los Angeles