hi ya DT2. Well, not really.

First, the pharmacists’ code of ethics (it’s formal and published) prevents them from substituting their judgment for the doctors; off label prescribing is common. Second, preventing implantation isn’t the same as aborting—failure to implant is a common and unremarkable experience. Happens all the time and it’s not considered an abortion.

Third—and most important—birth control pills are prescribed all the time to synch cycles for couples undergoing IUI, IVF and other fertility treatments as preparation for injections and embryo transfer. That’s a very delicate timing act—miss it by a bit and the embryo is gone. Meaning that (perversely) a pharmacist refusing to fill a script for birth control pills could be in fact be preventing the fruition of a $30,000 procedure and dooming the very embryo he or she seems to be so concerned about. Which is why we don’t let pharmacists make decisions reserved for doctors.