Prescription and Filling of Emergency Contraceptive Drugs - Essay Example

Controversy exists in the healthcare sector with respect to the rights of both patients and care personnel as well as ethical and religious beliefs of the parties in the dissemination of drugs. The government, at both federal and state levels, has however tried to regulate the controversy with the aim of safeguarding the public interest and promoting healthcare. Government agencies such as the legislative arms as well as statutory agencies have consequently formulated policies to regulate the controversies, such as prescription and filling of emergency contraceptive drugs.

In Minnesota, for instance, the Board of Pharmacy declared pharmacists’ obligation to fill drugs as required by patients. This implied significant impacts on the practice as the board has regulatory powers (Minnesota, n.d.). This decision was therefore expected to influence prescription and filling as long as it did not conflict any other state or federal written law. At the centre of the debate, however, is the conscience legislation that accommodates religious beliefs in professions and that has been used to support pharmacists’ refusal to prescribe or fill drugs whose application is against their religious beliefs.

This has further led legislative attempts to force pharmacists to prescribe and fill drugs at patients’ request.  The subject, therefore, seems to be more actively regulated by the conscience clause and pharmacists’ ethical regard while regulatory agencies’ directives remain unenforced.