Friday, August 12, 2022

Minnesota Pharmacist on Trial for Refusing To Dispense the Morning After Pill

According to the complaint, Anderson tried to obtain emergency contraception after a condom broke from sex. She traveled to a pharmacy in McGregor, MN—the only one in her hometown—to only be turned away because it violated the pharmacist’s ‘beliefs.’

George Badeaux, a pharmacist in Minnesota, appeared in court on August 1 for refusing to fill a prescription for emergency contraception to a woman named Andrea Anderson in January 2019. She filed a lawsuit under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, alleging her civil rights were violated.

According to the complaint, Anderson tried to obtain emergency contraception after a condom broke from sex. She traveled to a pharmacy in McGregor, MN—the only one in her hometown—to only be turned away because it violated the pharmacist’s ‘beliefs.’

‘Badeaux informed her that there would be another pharmacist working the next day, who might be willing to fill the medication but that he could not guarantee that they would help,’ the complaint states.

Not only did Badeaux allegedly refuse to provide the mother of five with the prescription, but he also would not tell her where else she could go to get the prescription, as required by state law, according to the complaint.
Anderson was also turned away at a CVS pharmacy in Aitkin, MN, but ultimately got her prescription filled at Walgreens in Brainerd, MN—a 100-mile round-trip—while a ‘massive snowstorm was headed to central Minnesota.’

No comments: