When Faith Meets Business

Imagine walking into a local pharmacy and looking around to see not one bit of junk food in sight. Not a soda or candy bar to be seen. You head over to the pharmacy to turn in your prescription for birth control pills and get flat-out denied. This is a reality for residents in Chantilly, Virginia where a new drug store in town is promoting its faith-based business practices by not offering junk food or birth control options.

The new Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy in Chantilly is only one of a handful of certified US pharmacies that will flat-out refuse to sell any type of contraceptive, including birth control, condoms and morning-after pills due to their religious values. Whether a person comes in with a doctor-approved prescription is not a matter of discussion. While many states have pushed through laws that force pharmacies to fill any and all prescriptions, Virginia has no such law; thus, pharmacists in this state can determine whether or not they choose to fill a prescription.

Robert Semler, the pharmacy manager at Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy is excited about being able to practice his faith, even through his work, “I am grateful to be able to practice where my conscience will never be violated and my faith does not have to be checked at the door each morning.” This is Semler’s second pharmacy where he was able to practice what he preached. In his store, only items that are related to health issues like skin-care lines, vitamins and normal medications are offered. In October 2008, Semler invited the Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde to bless his store. As he blessed the store with holy water, Loverde stated, “This pharmacy is a vibrant example of our Holy Father’s charge to all of us to wear our faith in the public square. It will allow families to shop in an environment where their faith is not compromised.” The pharmacy has no official attachment to the Catholic Church although it does not hide from the fact that it strictly follows the Catholic principles of prohibiting any form of contraception.

Semler’s pharmacy, along with six others in the nation, has been certified by Pharmacists for Life International as being a drug store that will not fill birth control prescriptions. While several hundred pharmacies across the nation do follow a similar birth control policy, they have yet to be certified as doing so. There have been many opponents of such practices; in fact, in a recent Wisconsin court case, one pharmacist was sued for receiving a woman’s birth control prescription, refusing to fill it and then refusing to transfer the prescription to a neighboring drug store that would fill it. According to information from the National Women’s Law Center, there are seven states in which drug stores and pharmacies are required by law to fill prescriptions for contraceptives; on the other hand, there are four states that allow drug stores and pharmacies to refuse to fill contraceptive prescriptions.

One fierce opponent of the Chantilly pharmacy’s policy is the state chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League. The executive director, Tarina Keene states, “If this emboldens other pharmacies in other parts of the state, it could really affect low-income and rural women in terms of access.” Opponents like Keene and her organization and other pro-choice groups have called for consumers to boycott this pharmacy in protest. Still, there are some locals who will go out of their way to visit this pharmacy because of its strict religious policy. One local, Catherine Muskett, states, “Obviously it’s good to support pro-life causes. Every little bit counts.”