Abortion Advocates Say Kroger Policy on Morning After Pill Not Improved 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 22, 2007
Cincinnati, OH (LifeNews.com) — Abortion advocates launched a campaign two weeks ago to get Kroger stores to change its policy on selling the morning after pill over the counter after a Georgia woman was denied the drug. Now they say Kroger officials haven’t done enough to make changes after the incident.
Representatives of NARAL say Kroger stories continue to deny the morning after pill to customers and the pro-abortion group wrote a letter to the company Wednesday complaining.
NARAL communications director Ted Miller said members of his group called 231 Kroger stores around the nation and found that 21 percent did not make the drug available.
He blasted the store for allowing pharmacists to decline to sell the drug but refer customers to another location.
”Accommodating the customer, in Kroger’s mind, means that pharmacists can say, ‘I won’t give it to you, but you can go down the road or go to another place,’ ” Miller told the Associated Press.
Kroger spokeswoman Lynn Marmer, told AP that the grocer does stock the Plan B drug at all of its locations but explained that there may be confusion about the policy on it. The FDA changed the drug from a prescription only pill to one that can be sold over the counter, but only to people over the age of 18.
”This is a new medication,” she told AP. ”We think some of this is due to some confusion over the policy.”
Marmer told AP the company sent a memo to all of its employees after the Georgia incident and said that all Kroger pharmacies should carry the drug but that employees could refer requests to purchase it to another employee.
”We wanted to be able to serve customers in a way that is quick and respectful and follows the law,” she said. ”We also, obviously, need to respect the rights of our employees.”
A December 2005 poll conducted by HCD Research of Flemington, New Jersey, surveyed 859 pharmacists and found 69 percent of pharmacists believe they should have the ability to decline filling prescriptions for the morning after pill.
The firm conducted the poll after news of four Illinois pharmacists fired from Walgreens stores near St. Louis after they said they would not fill orders for the Plan B drug because of their views on it.
HCD Research found that just 29 percent of those pharmacists polled believed Walgreens was justified in putting the pharmacists on unpaid leave.
ACTION: Go to https://www.kroger.com/contactus.htm to find contact information for Kroger stores to express your opinion.
