Response from author of Pharmacist article (below) This is the response I received from Mitch Mitchel, who was kind enough to respond to my inquiries regarding his article. (I wrote to him yesterday and he responded today.)
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply to your questions. Doctors and other health care professionals, I have been assured, have the ability to refuse to perform or to participate in the performance of abortions. This is the basic procedure that people were talking about in the story.
Mississippi enacted a sweeping statute that went into effect in July that allows health care providers, including pharmacists, to not participate in procedures that go against their conscience. South Dakota and Arkansas already had laws that protect a pharmacist's right to refuse to dispense medicines. Ten other states considered similar bills this year.
Thank God I live in California. I assume the ten other states either voted down the bills or decided not to vote on them at all. More tomorrow.