George Frey, Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Blake Moore has introduced a measure meant to give pharmacists the right to refuse to fill prescriptions for medications that can cause abortions.

Moore charged that the administration of President Joe Biden has taken steps “to undermine the conscience rights of pharmacists” in introducing the Pharmacist Conscience Protection Act along with two fellow GOP lawmakers, U.S. Reps. Earl Carter of Georgia and Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee.

“Conscience protections prevent discrimination and ensure Americans in the healthcare sector are not forced to violate their beliefs,” Moore said in a statement. The proposal — contrasting federal guidance meant to safeguard patients’ access to reproductive health care, including certain prescription medicines — comes as the debate over abortion rights ratchets up in the wake of the June U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down Roe v. Wade.

More specifically, the measure put forward by the GOP lawmakers would protect pharmacists from legal repercussions if they refuse to provide patients with medications that can cause abortions. “Pharmacists, along with other medical and healthcare workers, should never be coerced into participating in abortions, and this bill is an important step in supporting medical professionals who have deep convictions about practicing life-affirming medicine,” Moore said.

The press release from the lawmakers alluded to guidance issued July 13 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, that’s directed at U.S. retail pharmacies. That guidance stemmed from an executive order issued by Biden on July 8 in response to the Supreme Court decision that’s aimed at protecting access to medication abortion, among other things.

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The HHS guidance notes that pharmacies, as recipients of federal funding like Medicare and Medicaid payments, may not discriminate against customers “with regard to supplying medications; making determinations regarding the suitability of a prescribed medication for a patient; or advising patients about medications and how to take them.”

The guidance went on, describing several scenarios in warning that “discrimination against pregnant people on the basis of their pregnancy or related conditions … is a form of sex discrimination.”

One example centered on prescriptions for mifepristone and misoprostol to aid women who have miscarriages. “If a pharmacy refuses to fill the individual’s prescription — including medications needed to manage a miscarriage or complications from pregnancy loss, because these medications can also be used to terminate a pregnancy — the pharmacy may be discriminating on the basis of sex,” the guidance reads.

Another example focused on prescriptions of methotrexate to halt a problematic ectopic pregnancy. Failure to fill such a prescription would also be a form of sex-based discrimination, the HHS said.

Those behind the Pharmacist Conscience Protection Act, meantime, put the focus on the rights of pharmacists.

“Your first amendment rights don’t go away when you put on a white coat,” Carter, the Georgia lawmaker, said in a statement. “This legislation will ensure that pharmacists are able to make the medical decisions that are best for the health of the mother, the life of the child and the integrity of their practice without threats from non-medically trained bureaucrats.”

Harshbarger, the Tennessee lawmaker and also a pharmacist, cited her pro-life beliefs.

“I will always stand-up for the lives of unborn children and will always defend health practitioners who believe the same,” she said. “Pharmacists and other health professionals should never be punished for their moral beliefs in protecting life or be threatened or forced to facilitate abortions against such beliefs.”

The bill is co-sponsored by 26 House GOPers.

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