A woman has been denied her contraceptive pill prescription at a pharmacy after a worker claimed he could not sell it to her due to ‘religious beliefs’.
Wendy, who is a registered nurse, went to a pharmacy in Sydney on May 29 to collect two of her prescriptions – one of which was her contraceptive pill Yaz.
After waiting 30 minutes for her prescriptions, Wendy was called to the counter to pay and saw the Yaz box and another medication in her basket.
However, a male pharmacist took over after Wendy asked for a receipt for her items so she would be able to claim half the costs.
Wendy said she assumed the man was printing her a receipt but was then told she could not purchase the medication because it had expired.
Wendy, who works as a registered nurse, visited a pharmacy in Sydney to pick up two prescriptions, including her oral contraceptive Yaz
The pharmacy refused to sell her the item claiming the contraceptive had expired. Wendy asked for Yaz to be ordered in and was told the pharmacy does not stock it due to ‘religious beliefs’ (stock image of a pharmacy)
She then asked the pharmacist to order it in, to which another pharmacist interjected and said ‘no’.
‘Another pharmacist pipes up and he just says; ‘No, we don’t order it. We don’t stock this. We don’t dispense it. We don’t do that here’,’ Wendy told news.com.au.
She added the pharmacy told her it does not ‘provide oral contraceptives’.
Wendy paid for her other prescription and left as she was running late for work, claiming to have felt judged by the staff.
The next day a man claiming to be the pharmacy co-owner called Wendy to apologise for her experience.
He told her the pharmacy did not stock any form of contraception due to ‘religious beliefs’, adding he understood why some people choose to take the pill but that the pharmacy ‘just don’t supply it’.
Wendy said the man informed her the pharmacist should not have taken the prescription off the shelf and put it in her basket as it was expiring.
He said Yaz was intended for disposal along with some other items that were expiring and that the worker did not realise until the other pharmacist intervened.
Wendy questioned why the pharmacy did not have any signs informing customers that contraceptives were not sold.
She claimed the man acknowledged she had wasted her time but that she could buy the contraceptive products at another pharmacy and even offered her a $50 voucher.
Wendy rejected the man’s voucher and asked whether condoms were sold at the pharmacy as she would have bought $50 worth and handed them out at the front of the store.
It is understood condoms are not sold at the pharmacy, while the ‘family planning’ section of the pharmacy was labelled as ‘feminine hygiene’ and only featured pregnancy tests, personal lubricants and period products.
The pharmacy co-owner explained all contraceptive items including condoms were not sold at the store (pictured, shopper choosing condoms in the health care aisle of Coles)
Wendy said she was shocked by the experience, adding she would be fired if her political or religious views influenced her while at work.
‘I would lose my job. If I went to work today on the hospital floor and started talking about my political beliefs or religion I would be reported to the Health Care Complaints Commission and they’ll probably deregister me because that’s so unprofessional,’ Wendy said.
She added professionals should not judge customers on their choices and that the owners should not run a pharmacy if they did not ‘believe in modern medicine’.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency’s Code of Conduct states a patient should have access to medical care free from bias and discrimination.
Health practitioners should ‘not allow moral or religious views or conscientious objection to deny patients access to healthcare,’ the code of conduct reads.
The code of conduct does stipulate a health professional is free to decline, provide or participate in the care themselves.
However, in such situations, the health professional should ‘respectfully inform the patient (where relevant), your employer and other relevant colleagues, of your objection and ensure the patient has alternative care options’.