Opinion on whether pharmacists should be obliged to supply emergency hormonal contraception is almost equally split, according to the results of the latest PJ Online poll. Just over half of the poll participants, 52 per cent (90 votes) did not agree that pharmacists should have to supply EHC regardless of their religious or moral beliefs. However, 48 per cent (84 votes) believed they should. Community pharmacist Allan Melzack commented: “As healthcare professionals I believe that we have no right to refuse a medicine just because we do not happen to think that the patient is doing the right thing.”
Jonathan Cooke, honorary professor at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Manchester, agreed, adding: “If anyone considers this to be a problem for them then they should choose another career. Health is a secular matter.” However, these arguments were disputed by Duncan Livingstone, a hospital pharmacist, who commented: “I personally have no difficulty with the supply of EHC. I do, however, accept and respect the moral or religious views of others and unlike Jonathon Cooke do not see the professional world in purely black and white, right or wrong.”
