My name is Kim Gandy and I am the President of the National Organization for Women.

NOW is the oldest and largest feminist activist organization in the United States, advocating for women's equal rights, health, economic and social well-being. The testimony I submit today is underwritten solely by our more than 500,000 members and contributing supporters across the country. Thank you for the opportunity to voice our concerns today.

As this committee hears testimony from pharmacists who want to refuse legal pharmaceuticals to their customers, it is important to recognize the potentially devastating implications those actions would have on consumer rights and on the healthcare needs of millions of women.

44-year-old Kathleen Pulz and her husband panicked when their condom broke. The parents of four children, they had already decided that they didn't want a fifth child, but the pharmacy down the street refused to fill Kathleen's prescription for emergency contraception. And even worse, according to the Washington Post, they refused to return the prescription to her so that she could fill it at another pharmacy. And the samples are many.

Stories of pharmacists blocking women's access to legal pharmaceuticals are increasing in frequency, and reports have surfaced in states across the nation, including California, Georgia, Louisiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington state and Wisconsin. Rape victims have been denied emergency contraception. Married and single women have been given moralistic lectures for using birth control. Some women have been sent to other pharmacies, while others have had pharmacists refuse to return their prescription - and some women have even been lectured in front of other customers on the morality of their choices.

The issue before you today offers a choice between protecting women's access to basic health care and permitting pharmacists acting as small business owners to impose their personal beliefs on their customers. Pharmacists' personal beliefs are just that, personal. They must never compromise a customer's health needs and while we respect self-determination and free speech, these values should never in any way endanger a patient's health or compromise another individual's safety.

Ninety five percent of women in this country will have used contraception at some point in their lives. Without it, the average woman would face 12 to 15 pregnancies during her lifetime. Only a woman, with the support of her spouse or partner, her family - and if she chooses, her medical and religious counselors — should determine the timing and spacing of her childbearing. Women can only prevent unintended, unwanted and involuntary pregnancies if they have full access to contraception.

In addition, the assumption that birth control is only used for family planning denies women's reliance on contraceptives for other health benefits, including regulating menstrual cycles and treating endometriosis. They should not have to explain this to pharmacists in order to pass a "morality" test.

For some women, their community pharmacy is the only pharmacy. Why should a customer be forced to travel and spend additional time and money (which she may not have) obtaining what is rightfully and legally theirs? Pharmacist refusals are particularly burdensome to rural and low-income women, who may be unable to find or travel to another pharmacy to have their prescriptions filled without considerable hardship.

Prescription contraceptives also require timely access for optimum effectiveness. Emergency contraception (EC), for example, must be taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse to prevent a pregnancy, and the sooner it is taken the more effective it is. Trying to obtain EC within this time frame can be stressful for any woman, but particularly for a woman who has just survived being raped. Adding more obstacles while the clock is ticking is simply outrageous.

Nationwide polls show a majority of people are opposed to pharmacist refusals, proving conscience clauses to be out-of-the-mainstream. A 2004 CBS/New York Times showed 80% of Americans believe pharmacists should not refuse a woman's access to contraceptives. Another survey found that 74% of respondents supported laws requiring pharmacists to fill birth control prescriptions. This included support by 70% of Catholic respondents, 68% of Protestants, 87% of liberals, and 59% of conservatives. A poll of physicians also yielded overwhelming support for pharmacy compliance in dispensing birth control. Seventy eight percent of those polled believed pharmacists should fill all legal prescriptions.

With a majority supporting contraceptive access and keeping in mind the fact that a majority of women will use birth control during their reproductive years, it is arbitrary and discriminatory for pharmacists to refuse to dispense legally-prescribed birth control, holding extraordinary power over less-mobile customers and delaying or preventing women from meeting their most basic health needs, including pregnancy prevention and treatment of various medical conditions.

Our national commitment to women's health and reproductive rights must ensure that all women have confidence and trust in access to their healthcare, that they can purchase their prescriptions without judgment, without lectures, and without delays or other interferences, period.

Thank You.

Read more about NOW's work on reproductive rights.