(Even More On) The GOP Abortion Bill

Well, not exactly on the GOP Abortion Bill, but close. This, from Idaho.

NAMPA — The Idaho Board of Pharmacy will not take action against a Nampa pharmacist who refused to fill a prescription ordered by a Planned Parenthood nurse.

In a letter issued Thursday, Executive Director Mark Johnston wrote that the board had concluded its investigation into the incident and found no violations of state laws the board is tasked with enforcing.

In a complaint to the board, Planned Parenthood officials said the Nampa Walgreens pharmacist improperly used the state’s conscience law to refuse to fill a prescription for Methergine, a medicine used to prevent or control bleeding of the uterus following childbirth or an abortion.

But according to the Board of Pharmacy’s response, the Idaho Pharmacy Act does not require a pharmacist to fill a prescription. Even if the conscience law was used incorrectly, the pharmacist did not violate the Idaho Pharmacy Act by refusing to fill the prescription, the board found.In response to Planned Parenthood’s assertion that denying the prescription could have placed the patient in grave danger, the board said no such danger was realized because the medicine was obtained elsewhere.

In this particular case, the pharmacist in question did not even know why the prescription was requested -- the Planned Parenthood nurse cited confidentiality when asked by the pharmacist, and refused to give the particulars regarding the patient's condition.

So, I guess in Idaho a health care provider can refuse treatment to a patient based on the assumption that the intervention is an offense to personal belief, without actually having all the information necessary to make a decision (unfortunately) protected under law.  This is sure to happen again and again, given confidentiality requirements. 

One day a woman will indeed not secure the medication or treatment needed from an alternate source, and will die.  And one day this will happen based on false assumption -- because someone will choose to withhold a treatment assuming that the reason a treatment necessary, is an offense to personal belief.