Arizona resident and first grade teacher Nicole Arteaga took to Facebook after a Walgreens pharmacist refused to fill her prescription for misoprostol, a medication that can be used to end a failed pregnancy.

Nine weeks into her pregnancy, Arteaga learned that there was no fetal heartbeat–her pregnancy would end in miscarriage. Rather than undergo a surgical procedure to remove the fetal tissue from her uterus, Arteaga opted to take misoprostol, which can end a pregnancy up to 10 weeks in what is known as a medical abortion. Her doctor wrote a prescription, but when Arteaga went to pick the medication up, the pharmacist refused to give her the misoprostol, citing his ethical beliefs.

“I stood at the mercy of this pharmacist explaining my situation in front of my 7-year-old, and five customers standing behind only to be denied because of his ethical beliefs,” Arteaga wrote in her post, which has since been shared over 60,000 times. “I left Walgreens in tears, ashamed and feeling humiliated by a man who knows nothing of my struggles but feels it is his right to deny medication prescribed to me by my doctor.”

Walgreens contacted Arteaga and apologized for the situation, but maintains that the employee had the right to refuse to dispense the medication. Read more here.

 

– Anna Katz, Communications Intern

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