Is my local pharmacy violating the law?

[PrincessLuLu]

So as an advocate for sexual health and access to all forms of reproductive health care (including birth control and emergency contraception), I make it a point to do my research on where I can get these services and products where I live. My hometown is a small rural town in central Ohio, and I noticed a few months ago something weird about my local drugstore (Walmart). I have the understanding that recently, the age and point of sale restrictions were removed on all forms of emergency contraceptive pills (except Ella, which still needs a prescription) in the U.S., meaning that they are supposed to be available to buy directly off store shelves without having to ask a pharmacist, store employee, or doctor for it. Anyways, I have noticed several times when I have shopped at this particular walmart that they sell two forms of EC: Plan B & Take Action (a generic version), but these medications are behind the counter with the SudaFed and other meds you have to ask the pharmacist for. I have never attempted to buy this medication at this pharmacy, but it worries me that this leaves room for a pharmacist or employee to adopt a 'conscience clause', which basically means they can refuse to sell it to someone if it violates their moral, religious, or personal beliefs. My state has no laws specifying conscience clauses, which means that it would be easy to get away with abuses of power such as this which can put some people in very bad situations. I am not aware if other drug stores near me do this, but this is the only walmart I have been to I can remember since the law change that does this. Even if they were concerned about theft, other stores have the pills in a container with a security tag. Are they breaking the law? If they're doing something wrong, what can be done? Or am I overreacting?

[Karyn]

Hi PrincessLuLu. First of all, you rock for looking into this. I'm not a resident of the United States and I'm not overly familiar with the law around Plan B, but as far as I am aware, Plan B should be available from pharmacies without needing to ask anyone for it. However, if I were you, I would double check that that is the case, just to be sure; an organization like Planned Parenthood might be able to confirm for you that EC should be available without any restrictions.

If it does turn out that your local pharmacy is not making EC available in the way that they're supposed to, the first step would be to bring it up with the pharmacist and/or the manager of the store. If that doesn't work, you can try contacting the company's customer service department.

[Heather]

EC is available for sale over the counter in the states, but that just means without a prescription. It is not often on shelves the way Advil is: it is often still stocked behind the pharmacy counter. (And I would expect for many stores, that's about avoiding theft, as it is expensive.)

So, that means yes, anyone buying may need to ask a pharmacist for it. To my knowledge, that is not in violation of the current laws, as I don't believe they require - or can require - any over-the-counter medication to be stocked on the shelves rather than behind a counter or in another secure location.

[PrincessLuLu]

http://www.pharmacist.com/plan-b-one-st ... re-shelves
http://thestir.cafemom.com/healthy_livi ... ow_sold_on
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/10/06/t ... -b-access/
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/08 ... y-shelves/

Hope these are helpful to anyone looking for info on EC

[Heather]

Just to be clear, there isn't, to my knowledge, nor reflected in any of that links, any legal policy which requires Plan B or other emergency contraception be stocked specifically on shelves within consumer reach. That is a goal, but not one that has been realized by legal policy (and probably can't be, because putting almost anything behind the counter due to theft is an allowance usually given store owners).

What WAS approved is that it now MAY be stocked on shelves: before this decision, that wasn't legal even if a store owner had wanted to. In other words: legally, no one could previously put it right out on the shelves before, and now, they CAN. No one is, however, legally compelled to do so, they just CAN if they want to. Make sense?

(Just FYI, I removed one of those links because we don't like links here to organizations we know are not supportive of full reproductive choice.)

[PrincessLuLu]

What you've said is correct. I just try to keep as up to date on these things as possible. Thank you for the help. I apologize that one of the links was associated with an organization not supportive of reproductive choice. If I had known that I would not have added it. I will definitely be checking my sources more carefully.