Dispensing with conscience: a legal and ethical assessment.

Background: For over 30 years, pharmacists have exercised the right to dispense medications in accordance with moral convictions based upon a Judeo-Christian ethic. What many of these practitioners see as an apparent shift away from this time-honored ethic has resulted in a challenge to this right.

Objective: To review and analyze pharmacy practice standards, legal proceedings, and ethical principles behind conflicts of conscientious objection in dispensing drugs used for emergency contraception.