On Target

Remember the Target pharmacist in Fenton, Missouri who refused to dispense emergency contraception?
Fashionable, pro-choice discount shoppers rejoice! Target seems to have responded to the deluge of letters they received. The store now requires its pharmacists to sign a “conscience policy” – in which they agree to fill or refer EC prescriptions.
And what about employees who refuse to sign the policy? They’re fired. A pharmacist at a different Missouri Target store has filed a complaint with the equal-employment opportunity commission because she was axed for failing to agree to dispense or refer prescriptions for EC.
The pharmacist says Target fired her because Planned Parenthood threatened to boycott. True, some letter-writers may have refused to shop there, but Planned Parenthood says they never called for a boycott. Rather, they attempted to work with Target to change the store’s pharmacy policy. Paula Gianino, of Planned Parenthood in St. Louis, praised Target’s commitment to filling EC prescriptions.
However, this would seem to contradict Planned Parenthood’s online action center, which still has an alert saying Target has been uncooperative.
Anti-choice lawmakers have entered the fray. The hideous Missouri Governor Matt Blunt is pushing legislation that would prevent pharmacies from firing or disciplining pharmacists who refuse to fill EC prescriptions.
A similar battle is raging in Missouri’s neighbor to the east, Illinois– whose governor, thankfully, is not quite so repulsive.