The Washington Post has a story today on a trend in pharmacies that are “pro-life” — meaning that they “refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control pills, morning-after pills and other forms of contraception.” The reason:

They say they believe that such methods can cause what amounts to an abortion and that the contraceptives promote promiscuity, divorce, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and other societal woes.

The result of this trend has been “confrontations that have left women traumatized.” How would you like to walk into a pharmacy and essentially be told that in attempting to fill a legal prescription, you were committing a grievous sin?

Now, I have no intention of getting involved in the debate over abortion. But I think that, unless you have a big sign outside your pharmacy saying you do not fill prescriptions for contraceptives, it’s unfair to put female customers in the position of being embarrassed or ashamed for simply trying to buy birth control pills.

What’s next? Refusing to fill a prescription for Valtrex, because it treats herpes, or Viagra, which addresses male reproductive issues?

The Post says there’s an even larger trend afoot:

The pharmacies are emerging at a time when a variety of health-care workers are refusing to perform medical procedures they find objectionable. Fertility doctors have refused to inseminate gay women. Ambulance drivers have refused to transport patients for abortions. Anesthesiologists have refused to assist in sterilizations.

I’m glad we live in a free country where people can live out their values — as long as by doing so they aren’t recklessly hurting others.

I’m also glad that people can order prescription medications privately online — so they don’t have to risk being confronted by a pharmacist who chooses to judge them, rather than to serve them.