Pharmacy chain Soul Pattinson has cut ties with a chemist who came under fire for asking customers to shop elsewhere if they use the pill for birth control, with the Prime Minister describing the chemist’s behaviour as ‘‘highly unusual’’.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Thurgoona Soul Pattinson Chemist - the only pharmacy in an outer suburb of Albury - reignited controversy on social media this week after a photo of a note placed in a packet of oral contraceptive pills was posted on Facebook.
Pharmacy owner Simon Horsfall slips a note into every oral contraceptive pill packet, which says he accepts the teachings of the Catholic Church and is against the use of artificial contraception. The pharmacy also refuses to stock condoms and the morning-after pill.
Soul Pattinson released a statement late on Thursday saying it had ended its association with the Thurgoona pharmacy and did not support the chemist’s stance on contraceptive products.
‘‘We respect that the use of contraceptive products is a matter of personal choice,’’ it said.
‘‘The pharmacist concerned has acknowledged the likelihood that some people may assume that the views expressed are reflective of Soul Pattinson’s position on this issue. Consequently it has been agreed that he will no longer be associated with the Soul Pattinson brand.’’
The pharmacy also refuses to stock condoms and the morning-after pill.
Mr Horsfall said the notes had been slipped into pill packets for 12 years. ''It's about integrity - if you say one thing and do something else, that is hypocrisy. We practise what we preach.''
The note reads: ''If your primary reason for taking this medicine is contraceptive then it would be appreciated, that in the future, you could respect our views and have your OCP prescriptions filled elsewhere."
He said the nearest pharmacy was three kilometres away and there were a dozen pharmacies in Albury.
Mulqueeny Pharmacy, which has stores in Melbourne's Windsor and in Swanston Street, also refuses to stock the morning-after pill but sells the oral contraceptive pill and condoms. Pharmacy proprietor Stephen Mulqueeny, a practising Catholic, said he refused to dispense the emergency contraception because his priest advised him against it.
Dr Sally Cockburn, better known in the media as Dr Feelgood, said one of her patients was refused access to the morning-after pill at the late-night Windsor pharmacy and was not told about the 72-hour grace period. She said the woman fell pregnant and had to have an abortion.
She called on more pharmacies to disclose their stance on reproductive services and said those that did should not be vilified.
''I worry about when there is only one pharmacy in a rural area. It is up to the authorities to ensure women have access to a full range of reproductive services,'' she said.
Pharmacy Guild of Australia communications director Greg Turnbull said while there were ethical requirements for pharmacists to dispense medicine and put patients' welfare first, ''pharmacists are human beings who are entitled to religious and cultural beliefs''.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott was asked what he thought about chemists in Victoria and NSW sending out prescriptions for contraceptive pills with notes saying ‘‘if using this for contraception don’t come to us’’.
‘‘That would certainly strike me as highly unusual behaviour,’’ Mr Abbott told Fairfax Radio on Friday.
‘‘I wonder what the various professional bodies in pharmacy would think of it,’’ he said.
‘‘If anyone has a problem with that, who has received that kind of material ... well I think they have a right to raise it with the various pharmaceutical bodies and say ‘what’s going on’?’’
‘‘I think chemists should act professionally,’’ the Prime Minister added.
- with Jonathan Swan
