For Immediate Release:

Monday, June 5, 2006

"I am deeply troubled and disappointed by the proposed regulation by the Washington State Board of Pharmacy. This proposal would directly undermine Washington State's proud tradition of expanding access to care and protecting reproductive choice.

In an effort to clarify, this proposal creates new barriers to care and would allow a pharmacist to refuse to fill a legal prescription for any reason. No patient should be denied a medically appropriate, safe, legal prescription based on personal, religious, or moral objections of individual pharmacists. Women should not be at the mercy of their local pharmacists. Instead, women must be allowed to make their own appropriate health care decisions without undue interference. Whenever regulators allow personal ideology to interfere with science, women's health suffers.

In my ongoing fight to protect the health and safety of women across the country, I have often pointed to Washington State as a proud example. We were one of the first states to act to expand access to Plan B, and we have seen the rates of unintended pregnancy decline as a result. The Board’s decision to restrict access is not consistent with our strong record of expanding access to care.

I urge the Board, during the public comment and hearing period, to carefully consider the ramifications of this Proposed Regulation and remember that they must work to protect patients first. Regulators pushing their individual ideology should never trump a woman's right to make her own health care decisions."