Walgreens Does The Right Thing

Walgreens has put four Illinois pharmacists on unpaid leave for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception (via AmericaBlog):

The four cited religious or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and ''have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense, and in Illinois that is not an option," Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said.

A rule imposed by Governor Rod Blagojevich in April requires Illinois pharmacies that sell contraceptives approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to fill prescriptions for emergency birth control.

Pharmacies that do not fill prescriptions for any type of contraception are not required to follow the rule.

Ed Martin, an attorney for the pharmacists, on Tuesday called the discipline ''pretty disturbing" and said they would consider legal action if Walgreen doesn't reconsider.

At least six other pharmacists have sued over the rule, asserting it forces them to violate their religious beliefs.

Couldn't these radical pharmacists simply cross their fingers or something when they have to dispense emergency birth control? Or perhaps they should consider other lines of work more suited to their extremist beliefs. I hear that Iraq needs missionaries.