sarcastic fantastic

In Kansas, your local neighborhood drug store pharmacist can now refuse to fill your doctor-issued contraception prescription, or any drug he or she thinks might be used to terminate a pregnancy, or be used in conjunction with pregnancy termination, all on the grounds of “religious liberty” and “conscience protection.” Not only that, but anyone who ”reasonably believes” a drug prescription they are filling or “reasonably believes” an action they are taking — say, administering a drug — might result in the termination of a pregnancy is allowed to refuse under Republican Governor Sam Brownback‘s new law.

The so-called “Health Care Rights of Conscience Act,” which curiously exists in several states under the same name (perhaps an ALEC creation?), applies to pharmacists and even nurses and doctors — anyone who is related to the process of pregnancy termination. The drugs could include both abortion-inducing medications, and even emergency contraception like the so-called “morning-after pill,” but also could include drugs used for life-saving reasons — the pharmacist would only have to trust their gut, not the doctor’s orders.