Gregoire offers Plan B compromise for pharmacists

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Gov. Chris Gregoire has crafted a compromise rule for pharmacists opposed to selling the morning-after birth control pill, officials said today.

If adopted by the state Board of Pharmacy, the proposed regulation could end a monthslong stalemate between some women's groups and the state Pharmacy Association.

Under Gregoire's proposal, individual druggists could avoid filling prescriptions that conflict with their personal beliefs — but only if the patient is able to get a lawful medication without leaving the pharmacy.

That would mark a significant change from the Pharmacy Board's previous stance, which could have allowed pharmacists to refuse a prescription for personal reasons if they took specific steps to help a patient get it elsewhere.

Gregoire's proposed policy also would apply to over-the-counter sales of the drug, sold commercially as Plan B, said Nancy Sapiro, a lawyer for the Northwest Women's Law Center. Nonprescription sales already are available in Washington state and could to be rolled out nationwide by year's end.

Christina Hulet, Gregoire's health policy adviser, was cautiously optimistic that the Pharmacy Board might adopt the new proposal at its next meeting, scheduled for Thursday.

"I think they would welcome a draft that has been finely negotiated and reached some consensus from the different stakeholder groups," Hulet said Tuesday.

Women's advocates are pleased with Gregoire's alternative, Sapiro said. "It represents a lot of hard work by a lot of people," she said.

The state Pharmacy Association also has agreed to the new proposal, Gregoire's office said. Rod Shafer, the association's director, was out of the office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

Gregoire's option, however, still has its critics.

C.J. Kahler, a past Pharmacy Association president who has helped craft the group's prescription refusal policy, said Gregoire appeared to contradict earlier statements about religious freedom.

For example, the governor, a Roman Catholic, has said she does not want to impose gay-marriage mandates on churches. Kahler said that general policy should extend to druggists who have religious objections to Plan B.

"I'm quite confused about what she really means and what her intentions are," Kahler said. "Are there different sets of citizens that she's the governor for?"

Plan B is a heavier dose of a drug used in many regular birth-control pills. If a woman takes Plan B within 72 hours of unprotected sex, she can lower the risk of pregnancy by as much as 89 percent.

Plan B is not an abortion pill. If a woman is pregnant, the pill will have no effect. The earlier that a woman takes the pill after unprotected sex, the more effective the pill is.

Some people who oppose the pill believe its interference with a potential pregnancy is tantamount to abortion.

Gregoire issued a stern warning to the board in June, urging officials to change course from their preliminary endorsement of the so-called "refuse and refer" policy.

State lawmakers on both sides of the issue also have taken an interest in the Pharmacy Board debate, setting the stage for possible legislation once the 2007 session convenes in January.

Sapiro said she hoped that wouldn't happen, citing the agreement on Gregoire's present rule and the difficulty it took to reach an accord.

"This issue is much more complicated than it may appear at first blush, and there's just layers and layers of issues," she said. "It has taken a lot of time and research." "I don't know what kind of fight's going to happen," Kahler said.