After becoming pregnant at the beginning of this year, Rachel Peterson was informed that her fetus no longer had a heartbeat in June. Peterson was then prescribed Misoprostol, a drug that would help her undergo a less painful miscarriage process. Without the medication, Peterson was told by her doctor, she was at risk of needing a more serious and extensive surgery.
Peterson waited several days before deciding to use Misoprostol in hopes that her body would naturally discharge the material in her womb. After several days with little progress, Peterson contacted a Meijers, a midwestern family-owned superstore, to have her Misoprostol prescription filled. However, when Peterson arrived, the responding pharmacist told her that he could not, in good conscious, fill her prescription request due to him being a “good Catholic male.” Peterson attempted to reason with the pharmacist, telling him that she needed the medication to undergo a safe miscarriage and that her need for Misoprostol had no connection to an abortion. But, the pharmacist continued to deny her and ignored her requests to speak to the manager or another pharmacist on duty.
“I wanted a baby; I didn’t want to lose a baby,” Ms. Peterson said. “I felt ashamed, and I didn’t have to tell him that information but I thought, for my safety, to be able to have children again, this was an important step to take. And he denied that to me.”
After reporting the incident to a Meijer’s manager and not receiving a response in return, Peterson contacted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who filed a complaint to the company. The ACLU argued that if a man had needed a prescription filled for Misoprostol, which is also used to treat stomach ulcers, the pharmacy would have granted him this with no questions asked. However, because Peterson is a woman who required Misoprostol for a miscarriage, the pharmacy falsely accused her of wanting to terminate her pregnancy.
The denial of prescriptions due to religious reasons is not uncommon, in fact this occurs more often than one may think. In June of 2018, Nicole Arteaga was denied Misoprostol at a Walgreens in Arizona after enduring a miscarriage. Similarly to Rachel Peterson, Arteaga argued that her fetus was no longer viable and she needed the medication for her personal safety, however the pharmacist refused to budge due to his personal ethics.
Both Rachel Peterson and Nicole Arteaga chose to speak out about their experiences in hopes that it would help other women going through similar situations. “I just decided that I couldn’t remain silent,” Ms. Peterson said, “and if I could do something to prevent this from happening again then it was worth it in my mind.”
Meijers has since fired the pharmacist due to the failure to refer Peterson to a different pharmacist or transfer the prescription to a different pharmacy. They have apologized for “any customer experience that does not align with their core values,” according to spokeswoman, Christina Fecher.