Planned Parenthood took a stance earlier this month against a Target policy that allows pharmacists to refuse customers' prescriptions for birth control.

The group contends that Target's policy, allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill a prescription and refer the customer to another pharmacist, does not respect the rights of customers, said Stephanie Underwood, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Susquehanna Valley.

Erik Dill, a Target manager, 315 Lowes Blvd., said that his store does not currently have a permanent pharmacist, so it is impossible to say if prescriptions for birth control will be filled in the pharmacy on a consistent basis.

"[The temporary pharmacists are] all different and they're not official Target pharmacists," Dill said. "They're hired out from a temporary agency."

Underwood said the issue began when a Target pharmacist in Fenton, Mo., refused to fill a woman's prescription for emergency contraception.

As a result, Planned Parenthood contacted Target three times, urging the company to clarify its policy on the issue, Underwood said.

"The action came from a national level," she said.

According to company policy, Dill said that if the pharmacists are religiously or morally opposed to birth control, they do not have to fill the prescription.

Another pharmacist would fill the prescription the next day, or the pharmacist would call another pharmacy, Dill said.

However, he added that he has not heard customer complaints about prescriptions.

"Most likely, [the pharmacists] would probably do it," he said.

Planned Parenthood contends that other major pharmacies guarantee filling prescriptions without delay.

University Health Services Marketing Manager Ellen Nagy said that emergency contraception is prescribed and filled in the pharmacy in Ritenour Building.

She said the pharmacy's policy is to fill all students' prescriptions.

Denise Breault, a pharmacist for a CVS Pharmacy in Philadelphia, said that CVS company policy is to direct customers to another pharmacist in the store or to a nearby pharmacy if a pharmacist refuses to fill a prescription for emergency contraception.

In certain states, pharmacists have "prescribing power," meaning they can prescribe medicine without a doctor's prescription, she said. In Pennsylvania, pharmacists can only dispense medicine based on a prescription from a doctor. Because of that law, Breault said she doesn't believe pharmacists should have the power to refuse to give a drug to a customer with a valid prescription.

However, Breault said that at her CVS pharmacy, 1826 Chestnut St., in Philadelphia, the manager's policy is that only one prescription for emergency contraception will be filled at a time.

"It's a personal issue with promoting promiscuity," she said.

Underwood said that Planned Parenthood of Susquehanna Valley is not planning any awareness event or protest of Target's prescription policy.