Kristen Jordan Shamus | Detroit Free Press

Detroit Free Press

Meijer issued a statement Thursday about a Petoskey pharmacist accused of denying medication in July to a miscarrying woman because of his religious beliefs. He also refused to transfer the prescription to another drugstore, the woman says.

While the company didn't go as far as to say that it fired the pharmacist, it did say he is no longer an employee.

"Meijer strives to treat its pharmacy customers with dignity and respect," company spokeswoman Christina Fecher told the Free Press in an email. "The pharmacist identified by recent reports has not been employed by Meijer since early July 2018. While we cannot comment on any pharmacy customer matter, we apologize for any customer experience that does not align with our core values."

Mary Schroeder/Detroit Free Press

The Free Press was first to report on Wednesday the story of Rachel Peterson, a 35-year-old Ionia woman who was about 11 weeks into her first pregnancy in July when she had a miscarriage.

She tried to fill a prescription for a drug called misoprostol (brand name Cytotec) to help her complete that miscarriage. But she alleges a pharmacist at the Petoskey Meijer store told her he would not dispense the medicine because of his personal religious views. He also refused to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy.

"He said that he was a good Catholic male and that he couldn’t in good conscience give me this medication because it’s used for abortions, and he could not prescribe that," Peterson said.

KatieMac Photography

"When I divulged to him that the fetus was no longer viable, and that ... I needed to progress the situation further, he said, 'Well, that’s your word and I don’t believe you,' and he refused to fill it."

Peterson said she asked him whether he could transfer it to another local pharmacy and he refused.

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Misoprostol can be used to prevent stomach ulcers and also can be used to induce labor during pregnancy, to aid in the completion of a miscarriage and in the treatment of postpartum hemorrhage. When combined with another drug, it can be used to induce an abortion.

Her doctor prescribed the misoprostol to ensure that Peterson would complete the miscarriage and wouldn't develop an infection. For women who don't completely miscarry, there is a risk of developing an infection called sepsis, which is dangerous and can be fatal.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan sent a letter Tuesday on Peterson's behalf to Meijer, saying what the pharmacist did was discriminatory and violated the state's public accommodation laws.

Peterson family photo

"I think it’s very clear in this case that had Rachel been a man seeking this exact same medication for stomach ulcers, she wouldn’t have been turned away for the same reason," said Merissa Kovach, a policy strategist for the ACLU of Michigan, told the Free Press. "So Rachel was denied this based on the personal beliefs of this pharmacist and then also because she’s a woman.

"Unfortunately in Michigan, we don’t have an explicit state law that goes so far as to protect patients like Rachel," she said. "What we would hope is that Meijer and other pharmacies would agree that they’re allowed to accommodate the personal beliefs of their employees, but that accommodation cannot include permitting discriminatory denials of care that burden patients and customers.

"Any customer should be able to expect the same service regardless of who they are and what their prescription is."

Fecher said earlier this week that the company's policy follows guidelines established by the American Pharmacists Association policy manual.

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"We recognize the right of a pharmacist to abstain from filling a prescription based on his or her religious beliefs, but the pharmacist is required to have another Meijer pharmacist fill the prescription or, if no other pharmacist is available at that time, to transfer the script to another pharmacy convenient to the customer," she said.

Peterson told the Free Press that she finally was able to get the medication she needed, but that she needed to drive 3½ hours to a Meijer store in her hometown of Ionia to get it.

The pharmacist in Ionia had difficulty retrieving the prescription from the Petoskey store, but was finally able to do it.

"He was wonderful," Peterson said. "He was super supportive, and he said he would do everything he could to get the script for me. And if he had to, he would call my OB to get it filled."

Her reason for coming forward with her story, she said, was to ensure that action is taken so no other woman has to endure the emotional pain she experienced when she was denied medicine she needed at such a vulnerable time in her life.

"I just want people to know that I’m doing this to make sure that people do not have to encounter the same situation that I did," Peterson said. "There’s no greed associated with this. It’s just a basic human right. He is a medical professional, and he took an oath to take care of patients, and he failed to do that."