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Loud and clear, the General Council of Pharmaceutical Associations

has pronounced itself

to claim the

right to conscientious objection for

these professionals in the text of the law on the voluntary interruption of pregnancy that will be processed in the Cortes.

Specifically, it considers that the current wording "does not expressly contemplate conscientious objection

to the dispensing of the morning after pill (PDD), although it is protected by the Constitutional Court"

.

They add that "judicialization should be avoided and in the parliamentary procedure we consider that the text of the future law should include it,

for greater legal certainty for pharmacists and greater guarantees for citizens to always ensure their access to PDD",

over-the-counter (without prescription) in pharmacies since September 2009.

Specifically,

article 19 bis refers to conscientious objection

, but with some ambiguity, since it refers to "

health professionals directly involved in the practice of voluntary interruption of pregnancy

may exercise conscientious objection".

That is, it does not explicitly mention the pharmacist in his role of dispensing the postcoital pill.

In turn,

article 7 quinquies focuses on emergency contraception, where the PDD would be located.

It establishes that

"the stocks of emergency contraceptive methods

that guarantee the normal provision of the service

based on the demand of each pharmacy will be considered adequate"

, for the purposes of the provisions of the Law on guarantees and rational use of medicines and medical devices.

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In the event that the existence of the postcoital pill becomes mandatory in pharmacies throughout the national territory,

it would be considered a very serious offense not to have it

, and, according to the aforementioned rule,

with fines ranging from 90,000 to 1,000,000 euros

.

Obligation to dispense the morning after pill?

The Government has already announced that the text that is sent to the Cortes contemplates that "the morning-after pill will be dispensed free of charge in health centers and

must be available in all pharmacies"

.

This

is already the case in some autonomous communities, such as Andalusia.

Here, decree 104/2001 regulates the minimum existence in pharmacies of certain medicines and health products, including levonorgestrel, the active ingredient of PDD.

However,

would this mandatory existence imply that the pharmacist is obliged to dispense the PDD?

According to the jurist Fernando Abellán, an expert in health law, "there is the precedent of the ruling of the Constitutional Court (TC)", as the Council underlines, "which recognized the conscientious objection to a pharmacist in Seville in 2015" (after being fined for not dispensing it).

"And this must be taken into account and face this reality."

However,

what happens if there is only one pharmacy in a municipality, and it does not have more staff

who do not rely on their right to conscientious objection?

"When the TC ruled, an important factor is that

it was a pharmacy in the urban area of ​​Seville, where there were alternatives

, so in these cases it should not be required that there be another pharmacist in the pharmacies who can dispense it; if anything, on duty, but not in general, because you can always go to the pharmacy next door".

In other cases?

"The struggle is established and it would have to be seen case by case to what extent there is no alternative.

Of course, if there is no alternative, conscientious objection cannot be sustained and should not prevail, over the protection of the health of the woman. This is a factor of a broad consensus, except in certain sectors".

Establishing the mandatory dispensing of the morning-after pill under penalty of a fine is a clear attack on the freedom of conscience of the pharmacist

Spanish Association of Social Pharmacy

Like the Council of COF, the

Spanish Association of Social Pharmacy

(AEFAS) has shown its

opposition to the clause that obliges pharmacies to dispense the postcoital pill free of charge

.

This is indicated in a statement in which it indicates that the new draft of the Organic Law is positioned against the right to conscientious objection of pharmacists.

Textually, it

considers it "irresponsible to offer free of charge, and without control,

a product approved by the Spanish Medicines Agency for exceptional use in contraception."

For this reason, they maintain that

the new project "is positioned against a rational use of the drug

, by also promoting the abandonment of other safer, more effective contraceptive methods, and that pose less risk to the health of adolescents and to the embryo. human".

In his opinion,

establishing the compulsory nature of dispensing the morning-after pill under penalty of a fine "is a clear attack on the freedom of conscience of the pharmacist"

, recognized by the Constitutional Court in a ruling in which it admitted the right to conscientious objection of pharmacists, linked to the fundamental right to ideological freedom.

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