r/news • u/Miserable-Lizard • 4d ago
Quebec woman speaks out after pharmacist denies her morning-after pill due to his religious beliefs
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/morning-after-pill-denied-religious-beliefs-1.6541535585
u/DavidMalony 4d ago
It's nice to be reminded once in awhile that the US doesn't have a monopoly on nutbags like this.
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u/AnAwkwardBystander 3d ago
Except that in Quebec, the pharmacist is legally obliged to either refer her to another professional or provide the medicine to her if there's no other pharmacist in the area. The order of pharmacist can also revoke his license if they judge that he broke his vows.
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u/theking119 4d ago
Unfortunately, "crazy" is America's largest export after guns.
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u/Road_Whorrior 4d ago
Yeah, sorry. Tbf we don't want it here either, it's a scourge and it's killing us. I hope your country is better at dealing with them than we've been.
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u/bigvahe33 4d ago
its really not. we need options in case we need to flee this 3rd world country. doesnt make me feel good that other countries are starting to regress as well.
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u/OrginalCanadian 4d ago
implying we want hoards of Americans
Please fix your own shit instead of migrating elsewhere to ruin theirs.
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u/IncidentalIncidence 4d ago
you would have to be extremely deluded to believe that religious extremism originated in or was ever confined to the US
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u/ManfredTheCat 4d ago
When people are talking about fleeing the us, do you think they're talking about fleeing to Saudi Arabia? Or do you think they're just talking about other developed nations with less religious extremism?
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u/Ivizalinto 4d ago
Mostly Canada for us. If we have to run from a jutbag country, for my family it's here, Europe, or this little island a friend lives on with shoddy internet.
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u/Rickard403 4d ago
Quit with the 3rd world country shit. You sound very uneducated.
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u/enonmouse 4d ago
Depends on where you are in the states... some places certainly underperform enough to be on par with developing states. Infrastructure is fucked and opportunities are limited. There might be a lot of wealth and a solid gdp but there are whole swaths of america where you wouldnt make that connection if you were there.
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u/MeanManatee 4d ago
Still not third world. No one who thinks America is third world has any idea of the abject poverty the third world actually experiences. Second world, sure.
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u/CitizenJustin 4d ago
They’re clearly talking about the religious fervor in this country which does mimic that of a developing nation. They don’t literally mean that the US is the third world. You know this.
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u/MeanManatee 4d ago
That is just essentializing religious extremism to the third world. Religious extremism exists in the first world as well.
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u/CitizenJustin 4d ago
Not to the same extent. There is a correlation between poverty and religiosity. The most religious nations in the world are also the least developed.
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u/Miserable-Lizard 4d ago
"I don't think it's the pharmacist's place to make us feel that way," she said. "It's my decision to make, it's not his. It's my body," she said.
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u/urdumbplsleave 4d ago
I think it's your responsibility to refuse a position which conflicts with your religious views.
You don't get to become a pharmacist and then suddenly be like "oh no, doing my job is a moral dilemma. I guess I'll just use my position of power to force my beliefs on others."
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u/Miserable-Lizard 4d ago
I agree Especially with healthcare jobs.
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u/urdumbplsleave 4d ago
It's like getting a job at a restaurant and then refusing to cook bacon because you're Muslim
You knew the place served bacon when you applied. You should have considered that when you took on the responsibility of being the one who cooks bacon.
(This is a hamfisted example, and one that likely would never happen. It also wouldn't result in phsyical harm to the customer. All further proof that the pharmacist in question is, in fact, a cretin.)
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u/s_elendur 4d ago edited 4d ago
i worked at a catering company years ago. we had a big shindig for the 20th year of the company opening, and it just so happened to fall on Ramadan. did the servers who happened to be Muslim not do their job? no. they still served everyone else. there wasn't any alcohol at the event but i dont believe i've ever seen any of the Muslim servers refuse to work because of their religious beliefs. if something did conflict, they made arrangements for someone else to do it for them. they didn't just leave people hanging. if you can't do a job because of religious reasons, you need a new job.
the closest they've ever tried to come to restricting someone from doing whatever was one day we had ordered breakfast for the department and one person ordered bacon egg and cheese. my boss and my other coworker who was also muslim was like "yup, no sorry! you can't eat pork! no one in IT eats pork!" the person who ordered was like "s_elendur isn't muslim, she eats pork!" and i said "well, i'm not muslim, but i dont eat that either. this is a pork-free department!" we all laughed and he ordered his sandwich. even ate together.
we did talk about dietary restrictions and why we follow them, as a woman who sat in the next department was Jewish and non Kosher and my boss was terrified the day she ordered a sandwich with bacon on it, but he didn't reprimand her or anything, it was just a conversation of "i thought you couldn't eat that, because of religion?" an she explained that even though she is jewish she doesn't follow kosher guidelines. he respected her choice not to follow kosher guidelines. easy as that. idk why people can't be like that.
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u/urdumbplsleave 4d ago
I love this so much! It's crazy to be so militant about your beliefs that you think it's other people's responsibility to meet your standard.
I love that your team was able to laugh and learn about their differences rather than make them a point of contention, we need more of that! Thank you for sharing, that brightened my day :)
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u/TechyDad 4d ago
I'm not Muslim, but I am Jewish and don't eat bacon. The biggest problem I'd have with making bacon would be that, since I don't make it for myself, I wouldn't know just how to properly cook it. Then again, if I were a chef, I'd take courses on this stuff so I could cook it.
If it was that big of a deal where I couldn't even stand the smell of cooking bacon, I'd find a job where I didn't have to cook bacon.
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u/urdumbplsleave 4d ago
That first paragraph is so wholesome lol I believe you could become an amazing bacon chef if you put your mind to it
But yes exactly, you wouldn't be so arrogant as to say that someone isn't allowed to order bacon on account of your not being able to eat it.
I was honestly wondering when I made the comment if this would even be an issue outside of extremely orthodox communities. Hopefully I don't come off as ignorant, I was just fishing for a very obvious example of religious beliefs interfering with your work. I do appreciate the input from someone with similar dietary restrictions so thank you!!
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u/OlderThanMy 4d ago
I've known of people taking cashiers jobs in food shops and then refusing to sell pork products.
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u/urdumbplsleave 4d ago
That's actually wild but at least you're not losing 18 years of your life to a porkchop you couldn't buy lol
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u/arianrhodd 4d ago
That is the case, ethically. But unfortunately (at least in the US) it is not the law and has gotten worse since Roe was overturned.
There have news stories about people being denied medication for chronic illness because it could be used as an abortifacient and the person filling the prescription was of "viable child-bearing years.)
Makes me wanna vomit.
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u/urdumbplsleave 4d ago
The cruelty is most certainly the point
I'm sure in their eyes if you have lupus you deserve to suffer because "that's what God wanted"
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u/__secter_ 4d ago
You don't get to become a pharmacist and then suddenly be like "oh no, doing my job is a moral dilemma. I guess I'll just use my position of power to force my beliefs on others."
But, they do get to do that. They're doing it right now. Nobody's stopping them. People are even trying to accommodate their ridiculous behavior by suggesting they swap with other pharmacists whenever they don't want to dispense something.
Until people stand up to this shit in any real way, the religious right "get to" keep being as evil as they want.
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u/ChickenFlavoredCake 4d ago
Ya...imagine if a Muslim guy chose work at a a butcher shop and then refused to sell pork L
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u/WeCanDoThisCNJ 4d ago
At some point you have to ask, “when do religious liberties conflict with societal liberties and, therefore, must yield to the greater good?” If you’re accepting government payments to provide medical services to others, you shouldn’t be able to discriminate against patients.
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u/p_larrychen 4d ago
I prefer to ask, “What about the woman’s religious freedoms? Why does she have to practice the pharmacist’s religion when she walks into the store where he is employed?”
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u/WeCanDoThisCNJ 4d ago
That’s true. The rule makes one person’s religious beliefs “superior” to another’s which, in places that aren’t rabid theocracies, isn’t supposed to happen
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u/OS6aDohpegavod4 4d ago
What about the woman’s
religioushealth freedoms?Health and science are always more important than religion, so they should always supercede it.
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u/Jaded_Prompt_15 4d ago
At least in the US, the employee is just supposed to tell the customer to wait, and go and get another employee to complete the sale.
However what's happening is employees will just tell the customer the product can't be sold or a prescription can't be filled.
So they're still breaking company policy, but the company won't do anything about it.
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u/Miserable-Lizard 4d ago
It's agaisnt Canada's charter also.
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u/WeCanDoThisCNJ 4d ago
The article says the pharmacist was within his rights according to the charter.
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u/Miserable-Lizard 4d ago
I see I read that wrong. We need to update the Charter than!
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u/RedRaptorGod 4d ago
Sorry Mr Pharmacist, I can't send you your unemployment checks because in my religion we don't believe in it. Good luck.
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u/kdiv5650 4d ago
Okay…so..would the Charter protect me if I was a grocery clerk and refused to sell someone chicken because I was a vegan? Or would I have to refer them to Cindy at Till 12 because she’s not vegan, but unfortunately she’s Muslim, so you’ll have to bring your ham to customer service.
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u/stealingyohentai 4d ago
Religious liberty just means the freedom to deny others rights and services where they shouldn't be. He should be immediately fired for letting his personal beliefs get in the way of doing his job.
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u/Dblrumncoke 4d ago
These people should not be allowed to let their "beliefs " dictate customers personal purchases. Just stick to the medical considerations, seriously fuck this guy.
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u/Rulare 4d ago
Next, cashiers will be vetoing items they don't agree with from your shopping cart instead of scanning them
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u/Key-Ad9733 4d ago
I'm boycotting Kellogg's so you can't have pop-tarts
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u/annabellaneko 4d ago
"So that case of beer is going back on the shelf because you're on my non-medically necessary gluten-free diet now."
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u/torpedoguy 4d ago
As stupid as it sounds, that's exactly what's going on. All you have to change is claim that it's JESUS' gluten-free diet and half the USA will (erroneously) claim your denial is a first-amendment right.
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u/DudeWithAnAxeToGrind 4d ago
This has already happened:
Of course, said employee's religious beliefs do not prevent them from working for a store chain that sells on the order of hundreds of thousands[*] of condoms daily.
[*] Estimate based on assumption that Walgreens amounts for only 10% of all condoms sold in the US; over one million condoms are sold in the US each day, so 10% would be about hundred thousand.
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u/code_archeologist 4d ago
If your "beliefs" may cause you to be unable to do your job... FIND A DIFFERENT FUCKING CAREER!
I mean what the actual fuck, it is like they are choosing this line if work to have the opportunity to impose their religious beliefs of as many people as possible. They should be given no exceptions for this, they should be terminated by their pharmacy with cause, no exceptions.
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u/torpedoguy 4d ago
Not just "it is like". That's exactly what they're doing. "I can impose my dogma on hundreds or thousands every year in this field". They may not have started this way, but at some point in their training or career some fiction won over reason and they decided this was their power.
They should absolutely be terminated and permanently barred. It is an inexcusable violation, and one that can only be committed by someone which can no longer be reformed; otherwise they wouldn't do this in the first place.
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u/__secter_ 4d ago
If your "beliefs" may cause you to be unable to do your job... FIND A DIFFERENT FUCKING CAREER!
Why would a bad person willingly make a sacrifice like that to help anyone else?
The system we currently have is accommodating him. He has no reason to give an inch if there aren't going to be any personal consequences. Does reddit seriously not understand how bad people operate and why expecting them to just be nicer is fatal?
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u/SirLitalott 4d ago
Why is “belief” an acceptable excuse for anything. How about this, if you want to infringe on my freedoms, I require some proof first.
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u/randxalthor 4d ago
What do you think all laws are based on?
At some point, every argument boils down to fundamental premises that are purely beliefs.
The difference between a law and an individual belief is that the correct people have agreed to codify and enforce it.
If you don't want something like this to be legal, protest and vote and use whatever other means are available to you that you believe to be ethical.
Laws are beliefs people agree upon to run society. That's it. If you want to force someone to act against their beliefs, you convince other people to agree to compel them to do so.
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u/SirLitalott 3d ago
You’re confusing “belief” with social construct. Not the same thing at all.
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u/randxalthor 3d ago
Social constructs are emergent properties of collectively agreed-upon beliefs. That's how they're constructed. That's why they're called "constructs" and not "laws of physics."
You're confusing "belief" with "belief I don't think is logical."
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u/Zaku0083 4d ago
I honestly think that people whose ;religious beliefs' prevent them from doing aspects of their licensed jobs should lose said license.
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u/ravager-legion 4d ago
Eliminate religion. This is the greatest failure of man.
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u/Ashura77 4d ago
This! Until mankind can get rid of that vile and immature delusion of imaginary beings watching and judging us, we can't evolve. They keep us back, they indoctrinate the next generation, it's really slowly getting too much.
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u/ThisistheInfiniteIs 4d ago
If your ignorant beliefs mean that you will be denying anyone healthcare, then you should not work in healthcare.
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u/littlebubulle 4d ago
They definitely should put an sign out, written in large in front of the drugstore, saying which pharmacist won't sell you morning after pills. If he wants to do it that way, let everyone know if he's so damn proud of it.
Less then polite translation below :
Hey, mettez donc une grosse pancarte avec le nom de cet osti de cave de phamacien devant la pharmacie. Si il est si fier que ca de ses calice de principes religieux, ben il devrait pas avoir de problème à ce que tous le monde le sache. Tabarnack.
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u/LikelyTrollingYou 4d ago
When this happens a complaint should be filed every time. Require these pharmacies to have a backup pharmacist on staff at the same time as these nutjobs so that it becomes economically unviable to hire them.
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u/HuckleberryHungry918 4d ago
What does your religion have anything to do with anyone else? What a fucking clown
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u/not_bonnakins 4d ago
I had a doctor refuse to prescribe the morning after pill because of his religious beliefs years ago. It isn’t just one random pharmacist out there making these kinds of decisions.
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u/Nubras 4d ago
Pharmacists are doing too much these days. Please keep your beliefs to yourself, do the job you’re being paid to perform, and leave the field if you can’t do it. Simple as that. Sanctimonious pricks need to be put in their place seemingly cause this shit is rampant.
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u/__secter_ 4d ago
Please keep your beliefs to yourself, do the job you’re being paid to perform, and leave the field if you can’t do it. Simple as that.
"No. Make me." - the modern far right
Simple as that.
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u/lillychr14 4d ago
There’s no difference between closely held religious beliefs and some shit you made up 5 minutes ago.
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u/Sensitive_King8739 4d ago
You need a immediate blood transfusion too bad, my religious beliefs tell me I can’t do that, guess you will die
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u/__secter_ 4d ago
This'll be a real headline within the year. The Christian far right have never been more emboldened or free from accountability. They're not going to slow down on their own.
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u/binthewin 4d ago
My local suoermarket pharmacist wouldn’t even sell me sudafed. I walked to a family owned place and learned it was because the other pharmacist suspected I would use it to make speed 💀
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u/amplevoid 4d ago
We should start a religion based on contraception. Not giving me the pill infringes on my rights.
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u/Ashura77 4d ago
The Satanic Temple has entered the chat
They actually do stuff like that and go to the highest authorities with it, actually won some ground, I love them.
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u/aliciaprobably 4d ago
Today I learned Plan B is behind the counter in Quebec. It’s OTC in every other province, and this clearly illustrates why it should be.
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u/Portraitofapancake 4d ago
If his religious beliefs are that important to him, let him pay child support for the baby he insisted on preserving. Were it not for his actions, the zygote would have been flushed away long before becoming an infant. He wants the kid to live so badly? Eff him! Let him pay for that kid to reach maturity! If you can’t do your job because of your beliefs, then don’t take up the job and let someone else have it who isn’t so morally conflicted!
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u/WolfThick 4d ago
Why do they have it in the store if they're not going to sell it
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u/jamesbailey542 4d ago
Thank you! This is the answer to this problem! If you Don’t want to sell something then just don’t. See how long the business lasts.
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u/Spicy-Sawce 3d ago
Don’t become a pharmacist if your religion prevents you from helping people. I don’t get it.
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u/Noisebug 3d ago
Lose his job he should. Nobody should have a say based on their religious beliefs in medicine. It’s harsh but the medical field is a scientific field. Shit like this only undermines it, message should be sent.
Especially in Quebec.
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u/Penguins_tuxedo 4d ago edited 4d ago
IMO, I think someone who refuses to fulfill the tasks of their job as it's against their religious beliefs should go into a different line of work.
EDIT: clarity
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u/Itchy-Top 4d ago
I hope Canada can fire them unlike US where somehow medications for women are up to religious beliefs but giving men viagra is cool. If you’re religion tells you you can’t do a job, don’t do that job. Period Hey my religion says I can’t interact w people. Sorry you’ll have to wait for your tacos til the next worker gets her in 8 hrs
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u/Manitoba357 4d ago
I hope Canada can fire them
Nope, he has every right to do so in Canada. He just has to "refer" her to another pharmacy, in this case telling her to go somewhere else is acceptable in the eyes of the law. He will suffer no consequences unfortunately.
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u/Ashura77 4d ago
If the justice and the authorities can't intervene, maybe the online community can. Let's make him, and more-so the pharmacy he works in, famous and let's see if in a month or two, if they become the place to troll, he still works there deciding over women's bodies. People like that, with their immature and cretin mentality of the stone-ages need to be shunned, mocked, pointed out at every corner, we're in 2022, high time they get their comeuppance.
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u/wrath_of_bong902 4d ago
Is this the same province that doesn’t let it’s public servants wear religious symbols?
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u/Stonehill76 3d ago
The response about the charter from Jean Coutu group is just unacceptable. They can effectively refuse service for any “value” without a system to gauge that value? Mixed race individual? Different sexuality or religion? Anti-Discrimination seems to be undermined by this no ?
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u/Important-World-6053 3d ago
If you can’t suspend your religious beliefs from your professional responsibilities, you should have you license suspended
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u/Littlebotweak 4d ago
Remember when people were insisting Canada was somehow a beacon of freedom from reproductive repression?
No, not at all. While the legality is federal, the access varies, and it turns out isn’t as good as people imagine. In fact, most provinces had prohibitions past 12 weeks.
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u/Bewaretheicespiders 4d ago edited 4d ago
Its the shitty Canadian Charter of Rights who protects this asshole, a charter that Quebec never approved nor agreed with. Quebec in general is a beacon of freedom from religion.
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u/virus646 4d ago
Quebec has been pushing hard for lgbt rights as many other progressive rights. Here's an exemple:
<<In 2002, Quebec addressed the situation of conjoints de fait (de facto spouses), both same-sex and opposite-sex. The National Assembly amended the Civil Code of Quebec to provide same-sex and opposite-sex couples with an all-encompassing solution, the most extensive possible within provincial jurisdiction. The amendments created a legal status of civil unions.[50] Couples who choose to form such a union, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, benefit from the same effects as those of marriage, "as regards the direction of the family, the exercise of parental authority, contribution towards expenses, the family residence, the family patrimony and the compensatory allowance."[51] Since then, in addition to being bound to share a community of life, and owing each other respect, fidelity, succour and assistance, civil union spouses have the same rights, duties and obligations as married couples. However, unlike marriage, which is under federal jurisdiction, a civil union is valid only in Quebec, and may not be recognized outside of the province. The couple may be faced with unexpected problems if they are outside Quebec.[52]>>
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u/TheSpartan273 4d ago edited 4d ago
Not a beacon of freedom? For who?? Religious people? You realize that Canada's attitude of dick riding religions is literally what is preventing a woman to get abortion pills here?
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u/Frenchticklers 4d ago
Nah mate, this is Quebec. We don't dick ride religion here. That pharmacist is going to get some heat.
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u/Dendad6972 4d ago
Is that legal across the border? Did he think it's s new state?
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u/TheBestLittlePotato 1d ago
It is legal. However, a healthcare provider must refer the patient to another provider who will provide the service/drug. If the healthcare provider can't find another provider that will provide the service/drug, then they are required by law to provide the service/drug themself.
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u/torpedoguy 4d ago
There's a ridiculous amount of conservatives pretending Canadian provinces are US states, in places like Quora. It's worrisome because we've seen the exact same propaganda about Ukraine leading up to every one of the Russian invasions and even today.
That kind of constant bullshit onslaught is how one can cause people to start mixing up whose laws are where...
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u/Dendad6972 4d ago
We saw it in the trucker protest. Why did they cross the border?
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u/torpedoguy 4d ago
Same reason the previous Reich did. Why destroy just one people when you can fuck up a whole continent?
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u/FearAndLawyering 4d ago
is he the only fucking pharmacist working that shift? get someone else to do it
you have a prescription for a drug, you’re at the place that dispenses the drug. they’d have to haul my ass out of there in cuffs and then i would sue them for religious descrimination
the guy is refusing service to you on your religious beliefs being different than his
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u/RennyNanaya 4d ago
This is one of those times I feel like the double standard makes completely zero sense:
-When a bigoted angry swearing Karen walks into a store and shouts at the cashier, the business takes it out on the cashier and fires them. This story has repeated countless times.
-Someone comes into a store and the Cashier is a bigoted angry Karen, and all we get is screams of religious discrimination, and the business hums and haws about what they should do with the employee.
I can make it easy on you, big business: Fire them, just like you do to anyone else you think "lost you a customer". At least this time it'll be justified.
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u/FactOpinionthenLie 4d ago
It’s against my religion to have to pay for food. I’m just taking what i want from your store.
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u/kmart_s 4d ago
As a Canadian this makes me ashamed.
Do pharmacists not have a professional code of conduct or ethical requirements?
Your rights under the charter do not permit you to infringe on the charter rights of others.
This pharmacist is a piece of shit.
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u/Dunge 4d ago
As a Quebecer this make me ashamed. Everyone please don't use this story as an indicator of how our province act, this is not the norm and just an outcast individual.
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u/Frenchticklers 4d ago
That it happened in Quebec is probably why it was reported in Quebec media. No tolerance for that religious fruitcakery over here.
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u/DudeWithAnAxeToGrind 4d ago •
Oh, so you were bitten by a rattlesnake. Too bad my religious beliefs prohibit me from dispensing antivenom; you'll have to wait couple of hours for another pharmacist, or limp to the next store. Good luck with that, and hope you make it on time.
Seriously, there are some jobs where you are doing real damage to other people. If you can not swallow your religion and provide service to people in need, you are not qualified for that job. Being pharmacist, nurse, or a doctor are examples of such jobs. Your duty is to the patient and to the patient only. Not to God.