Target Practice

Target allows its pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for the emergency contraception Plan B, commonly known as the morning-after pill. Some people, primarily stemming from their religious beliefs, do not support use of the morning-after pill, claiming it is a form of abortion (it’s not, but they’re free to believe that). Planned Parenthood has attacked the retailer for disrespecting customers’ reproductive rights, and many have called for a boycott of Target. Target has defended it’s policy, and I agree that they are well within their rights to make this decision.

My comment on this issue is: what would happen to a pharmacy if they didn’t hire someone because they wouldn’t fill prescriptions for the morning-after pill on religious grounds? I’m not a lawyer, but I believe this person would have a case to sue the store for discrimination on the basis of religion. In my opinion, it’s fine if a store doesn’t want to sell the morning after pill, that’s their business (and lost business). But if they want to sell the pill, they have every right to fire (or not hire) employees if they won’t do the job they were hired to do. But they can’t really do that, because anti-discrimination laws have them trapped. Not that anti-discrimination laws don’t achieve some positive results, but this serves as a good reminder of the unintended consequences that occur when the government legislates behavior.