London woman refused ECP on ‘moral and religious grounds’

A musician was left feeling ‘humiliated and disgusted’ after being refused the emergency contraceptive pill by two branches of the same pharmacy. 

Tiffany Berton, a 28-year-old singer songwriter was twice refused the contraceptive on moral and religious grounds, This Is Local London reports.

Berton said:

‘I went to the Boots store next to Ealing Broadway station, but was told they did not stock it on religious grounds and was sent to the other Boots shop in Ealing Broadway. When I got there I was made to fill out a form, then the assistant showed it to the pharmacist, before coming back and telling me I could not have the pill. It made me feel like I was being judged and branded an amoral woman, even though I was being responsible.

‘I was furious, but also humiliated and disgusted. I’m on low income and on housing benefits, and now is not the right time for me to bring a child into the world. Yet the way these people were acting it was as if they were saying you’re either single and celibate or married.’

Berton said she now intends to mount a campaign to stop pharmacists being able to refuse treatments on religious and moral grounds.

Helen Watkinson, a spokesman for Boots, said it was legal for pharmacists to refuse treatments on religious or moral grounds. She said:

‘In this case the Royal Pharmaceutical Society code of ethics states a pharmacist should ensure they direct the patient to another pharmacist for an alternative supply if appropriate. We are sorry that in this instance the customer was not satisfactorily directed to an alternative source, and we will be reviewing the process with the stores involved.’

Two Ealing stores refuse musician contraceptive pill on moral grounds. This Is Local London, 27 November 2008