In March, 33-year-old Julee Lacey walked into a CVS near her Fort Worth, Texas home to obtain her next month’s supply of birth control as she had done every month for the past year. But the pharmacist on duty refused to fill her prescription, her reason being that birth control is “wrong.” In February, an unidentified rape victim in Denton, Texas was turned away from an Eckerd pharmacy when she tried to acquire the morning-after pill that had been prescribed to her at a hospital. The pharmacist took her prescription into a back room, prayed, called his pastor, and then told the young woman that he could not, in good conscience, fill her prescription because it could kill an embryo that she may have already conceived.

In July of 2002, the on-call pharmacist at a Madison, Wisconsin K-Mart not only denied 20-year-old Amanda Phiede a refill for her birth control, but refused to return the prescription to her, making it impossible for her to have it filled anywhere else. In his defense, the pharmacist claimed he did not want to suffer from “spiritual pain.”

These aren’t the only incidents of their kind, and situations like this haven’t yet come to a stop. In fact, in addition to the ten states that are currently considering establishing laws to protect the religious motivations of pharmacists, South Dakota, Arkansas, and Mississippi have already passed such laws. These policies allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions, on the condition that they transfer the prescription to a pharmacist or pharmacy that will.

Now, I know some of you would like me to go off on a politically-driven tangent about reproductive rights and how freedom of religion shouldn’t apply when it’s impeding on them, but I’m not going to. I’m not going to because it goes without saying. You all can figure this out from a constitutional standpoint on your own; this is Guilford, after all.

This isn’t about political agendas, this is about common sense. I’m going to use this space to address the pharmacists responsible for this recent development in drug store etiquette:

Do your damn jobs.

Of course, if it were that simple, none of this would be happening, so allow me to clarify: Your job is to fill prescriptions. If you don’t want to fill prescriptions, get a different job. I understand that a position in pharmaceuticals can be kind of a power trip, what with the one-foot pedestal you get to stand up on and the white coats you get to wear, possibly fooling people into thinking you’re licensed physicians. Nevertheless, for now, you’re simply certified dispensers of prescription drugs, and nowhere in your job description does it say that you’re entitled to force your religious beliefs onto your customers.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for that First Amendment thing that you’ve chosen to abuse, but not when it conflicts with the job you’re being paid to do. Why don’t you just take a job at a methadone clinic and refuse to dispense the pills to heroine addicts because it will strengthen them spiritually to quit without medicinal aid? Or open a bar but refuse to serve liquor because you’re a recovering alcoholic? Hey, how about you work with infants, but not the ones born to unwed mothers?

It’s real simple: no one held a gun to your head and forced you to be trained in the pharmaceutical industry. If distributing birth control pills (or morning after pills, or condoms, or spermicide, or lubricant) emotionally disturbs you, then don’t take a job in a drug store. To Hell with the sex-crazed degenerates who clearly don’t appreciate having your ideals rammed down their throats.

Now go on, spread those ideals. There are 3 a.m. time slots on cable access waiting to be filled by people just like you.