[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 45 (Friday, April 15, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E658]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ACCESS TO LEGAL PHARMACEUTICALS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 2005

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today, along with my Republican colleague, 
Christopher Shays, and my Democratic colleagues, Debbie Wasserman 
Schultz in the House and Senator Lautenberg in the Senate, I am 
introducing the Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act, which will ensure 
that a woman's access to birth control cannot be denied by pharmacists 
who have personal objections to certain legal prescriptions.
  A disturbing trend has recently erupted in drug stores across the 
nation: some pharmacists are refusing to fill women's prescriptions for 
legal contraception. It's happening everywhere: in small towns and 
large cities, in the north and the south. And it's happening to all 
women, whether they are young or old, married or single, with children 
or without. In some cases, the pharmacists are refusing to tell women 
where they can fill the prescription; in others, they are refusing to 
return the prescription paper back to the women. These women are 
frequently ridiculed and lectured by these pharmacists about their 
choice to use birth control pills.
  It is incomprehensible that in the 21st century, we are living in a 
time where women are having to fight for their right to obtain birth 
control pills. Something must be done so that this assault on privacy 
does not continue to invade the bedrooms of American women. The Access 
to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act, ALPhA, protects an individual's access to 
legal contraception. It requires a pharmacy to ensure that if a 
pharmacist has a personal objection to filling a legal prescription for 
a drug or device, the pharmacy will ensure that the prescription is 
filled without delay by another pharmacist who does not have a personal 
objection. This act also ensures that if a prescription drug is not in 
stock, and it is a type of drug that the pharmacy routinely carries, 
such a drug will be ordered without delay.
  A November 2004 poll conducted by CBS and the New York Times 
indicated that 8 out of 10 Americans believe that pharmacists should 
not be permitted to refuse to dispense birth control pills. This 
opinion was strong despite party affiliation--85 percent of Democrats 
and 70 percent of Republicans polled squarely opposed pharmacist 
refusals. The Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act reiterates the 
beliefs of the majority of Americans and the principles of our 
Constitution: that women have a fundamental right of access to birth 
control.

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