Patient Protection

Patient Protection

Did you know that patients in Pennsylvania can be refused the care they are seeking, or even have their prescriptions denied without penalty? Like 80% of Pennsylvanians, Planned Parenthood supports legislation that protects a patient's right to receive standard, medically appropriate treatment or prescriptions, without obstruction, barrier or interference.^[1] We believe this right should be fully protected by law.

Legislation

Planned Parenthood supports House Bill 730 introduced by Representative Mike O’Brien (D-Philadelphia) that ensures a patient can get his or her prescription filled or access legal, over-the-counter medication without obstruction. HB 730 requires a licensed Pennsylvania pharmacy to dispense any prescribed drug or device, in stock and without delay, upon receipt of a valid and lawful prescription. Where a prescribed drug or device is not in stock, the pharmacy must offer to either obtain the drug or device under standard procedures for expedited ordering or locate the preferred or closest pharmacy that has the drug or device in stock and transfer the prescription under standard procedures for transferring prescriptions.

The full text of the legislation can be found here.

Where It Stands

House Bill 730 is currently in the House Health and Human Services Committee with no recent activity.

The Pennsylvania Bulletin’s October 27th publication from the state Board of Pharmacy details their recently adopted statement of policy relating to matters of conscience. The guidelines state, "if a pharmacy employs a pharmacist who has identified circumstances that would preclude the filling of prescriptions for particular products, the owner and pharmacist-manager should devise reasonable accommodations that will respect the pharmacist's choice while assuring delivery of services to patients in need. This may include scheduling of pharmacists to allow a pharmacist who has a religious, moral or ethical objection to practice simultaneously with another pharmacist who will fill the requested prescription, entering into collaborative arrangements with pharmacies in close proximity, or other accommodations designed to protect the public."

With no enforcement mechanism, it is unclear at this point what impact the policy will have on dispensing practices at Pennsylvania pharmacies. The full text of the policy can be found here.

Other Information

In 2005, Planned Parenthood conducted a series of statewide surveys on Pennsylvania pharmacies' stocking and provision policies. Of our findings, there is a consistent trend demonstrating that rural and suburban areas do not always stock contraceptive medication as readily as urban areas. Further, only 21% of pharmacists and pharmacy managers believed their pharmacy had a policy on whether or not a pharmacist could refuse to dispense prescriptions. Only 50 of pharmacies stocked the medication, and of those 50%, less than half could fill the prescription in 24 hours. Moreover, 25.8% of pharmacy managers were unsure of whether or not their pharmacy employs individuals who would refuse to dispense legal prescriptions. In addition to collecting data, we collected anecdotes from pharmacists which particularly stood out. Here’s some of our favorites:

• Allison Park, PA
  "I don't dispense contraception of any kind, nor would I."
• Bloomsburg, PA
  "I spoke with the owner/manager who said that the pharmacy does stock emergency contraception. When asked about a pharmacist refusal policy, he said that his personal policy is not to mix religion with his work. Having said that, he went on to tell me that he won't refuse to fill a prescription but will 'counsel' the patient. He clarified this by telling me that he tells them about the 'side effects', explains that EC is not birth control, and if they still decide that they want to have the prescription filled, he will fill it."
• Shinglehouse, PA
  "This pharmacy was surveyed in August 2005. The pharmacist agreed to answer questions. She was asked or not their pharmacy stocks emergency contraception and the woman said no, that this was a pro-life pharmacy. I tried to tell her that EC does not really have anything to do with 'pro-life' and the woman said that yes, it did, and hung up."
• Sharon, PA
  "I spoke with a pharmacist who said that in order to purchase condoms in this pharmacy someone had to be 21, and that was the store policy." In fact, there is no legal age at which an individual may purchase condoms.

The 2005 study led into a more recent study conducted in Western Pennsylvania on this same topic in 2007. The results, by county, were:

• Allegheny — Most pharmacies began stocking by the time of in-person visits. Those that did not remedy stocking situation primarily comprised local chains. Comments included "The owner is Catholic," "the distributor doesn't carry it," and "It’s too expensive."
• Westmoreland — Many independent pharmacies claimed to serve only "older" clientele. Pharmacies claimed to never have requests.
• Indiana — Chains and independent stores alike failed to stock. Comments include "birth control is questionable," "doesn't want to know about it" and "doesn't deal with that." Rural counties generally much stronger ideological opposition to Plan B.
• Butler — Independent pharmacies often did not stock. Comments included against owner/manager's policy. Some pharmacies were still stocking prescription-only Plan B.

What You Can Do To Help

First, join our email Action Network to get continued updates on this issue and others!

Next, make some noise! People in Pennsylvania aren't very aware that accessing contraception continues to be a problem. Please consider writing a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper, and joining in on any efforts we plan around this issue. Send us an email at administration@pppamail.org to get involved!