City Takes on Walgreens in National Birth-Control Battle

The newest in-the-trenches salvo in the assault on reproductive rights has not gone unnoticed by the City Council, as Austin stands poised to become the first city in the nation to ensure its patients' access to safe, legal, and prescribed birth control and emergency contraception. A council decree states that Walgreens, the pharmacy contracted to serve those the city covers, will fill any such prescription without delay, should one of the company's pharmacists refuse to do so on so-called moral grounds.

"In the event that an individual pharmacist declines to fill a prescription based on personal belief rather than professional judgment, the store's pharmacy manager will take necessary steps to arrange to have the prescription filled," reads an amendment to the city's funding for Walgreens. Just what language is to come after that is the subject of negotiations between the pharmacy giant and the city. For reasons of cost and convenience, the city contracted Walgreens as its pharmacy last year, with the stores filling the role that, by law, a city-run drugstore previously played. Walgreens now fills the prescriptions for clients of Austin's Community Care clinics and enrollees in the Medical Assistance Program. And with the creation of the Hospital District, serving the entirety of Travis County, the pharmacy's role is expected to increase exponentially – hence the council's concern to codify Walgreens' duties.

"We could not get an agreement from Walgreens that they would fill prescriptions when patients arrive at the pharmacy," said Council Member Brewster McCracken, the amendment's original author. If a rogue pharmacist refused to fill a prescription, the Illinois-based retailer's representative wanted to reserve the right to send patients to a different pharmacy, or make them wait for new employees to come on duty, McCracken said. The council wants to ensure that prescriptions would be filled at the patient's original destination without delay. "A lot of folks in the prescription program may be riding the bus, or may not have access to transportation," noted McCracken, who described Walgreens' proposed policy as "no different from what has caused a lot of national outrage."

That outrage is well documented by Planned Parenthood, whose Web site, www.fillmypillsnow.org, dispenses one of only four "thumbs down" to Walgreens when it comes to filling legitimate prescriptions without incident (the other losers being Winn-Dixie, Rite Aid, and, that star of the free market, Wal-Mart). "Walgreens acted swiftly to respond to that Web site," said Danielle Tierny, Planned Parenthood's Austin public affairs director. The pharmacy went so far as to mail letters to every clinic CEO in the country, saying it was "very concerned" and wanted to craft a policy meeting with Planned Parenthood's approval, Tierny said. So far Walgreens has instituted no rules governing birth control, however, unlike CVS Pharmacy, which, after receiving an unfavorable rating, responded by changing its policy. "Walgreens could do the smart thing," said Tierney, "but at this point they're talking out of both sides of their mouth."

The city attorney's office will continue negotiating with Walgreens, McCracken said. "Toby Futrell said on the dais that she was dissatisfied with Walgreens' last offer and could not accept it," he said, showing that the council and city management are "in sync" on patient protection. While there have been no reported local incidences of customers having difficulty getting a prescription filled, the council wants to ensure that all of the city's prescription clients receive assistance, McCracken said. "This is an agenda that goes far beyond abortion," he said, referring to the "culture-of-life" lunatic fringe. "This is an assault on the fundamental pillars of equality between men and women."