Birth control users told to go elsewhere

A pharmacy chain in Victoria has dumped a chemist near Albury from their franchise after one of the pharmacists asked customers seeking birth control to shop elsewhere.

Simon Horsfall, the owner of Thurgoona Soul Pattinson Chemist, placed notes into packets of birth control pills informing readers of his Catholic beliefs and encouraging those using the medication for contraception to purchase the pills elsewhere.

The notes caused a firestorm on social media; a few days afterwards Horsfall’s pharmacy was dropped from Soul Pattinson’s chain.

Australian pharmacists can legally withhold certain medicines if they conflict with the chemist’s personal beliefs.

“The ethical and professional priority for pharmacists should be the welfare and safety of patients. Having said that, pharmacists also have human rights and are entitled to religious, moral or cultural beliefs,” said Greg Turnbull, communications director at the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

“Their professional duty is to make sure that should their religious, moral or cultural beliefs restrict them in willingly dispensing a particular product or medicine, they should refer the patient to another pharmacist,” he said.

“Obviously this is a problem in the case of a very remote community.”

Since emergency contraception (also known as the morning after pill) was first introduced to the Australian market in 2004, many have objected to selling it.

An assistant at a Sydney pharmacy who did not wish to be named said that she worked with a pharmacist who did not sell the medicine.

“There’d only be one pharmacist on duty, so if he was on duty he’d just say it was sold out,” she said.

“I personally do think they should just have to sell it. We were open on a Sunday, if we said no, none of the other pharmacies on the street in that suburb would be open.”

Sydney resident Annie Wylie said that while attempting to purchase emergency contraception she was quizzed on her sexual activity.

“[Afterwards] they sort of stood there very suspicious of my very simple story and said they would only give it to me if I provided my full name and address as, if this happened again, they’d refuse me,” she said.

“This was the first time I’d ever got the morning after pill at this chemist, and only the third time in many years of sexual activity so they really were very unjustified.”

Anna Robinson, also from Sydney, said that in her youth a pharmacist in Connells Point in the city’s south tried to convince her they couldn’t sell her emergency contraception due to her age.

“I had to argue with the pharmacist that I was allowed to have it, that there were no age restrictions,” she said.

“[They claimed that] I was too young, and it was illegal for me to be having sex.”