Whether states should enact and/or enforce laws that permit pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions on moral grounds.

Whether an employer has the right to compel a pharmacist to fill prescriptions that the pharmacist finds morally offensive, by requiring the pharmacist to sign a contract agreeing to fill every presented prescription and enforcing that contract through employment discipline procedures.

Whether the state licensing board has the right to require pharmacists to fill morally offensive prescriptions or face discipline or the loss of a license.

Regardless of how the ethical issue should be resolved, it is clear that both sides of the issue are meritorious. A patient has a legitimate interest in having a prescription filled and that a pharmacist has a legitimate interest in not providing medication that he finds ethically offe

However, Kant is reluctant to say that humans are fully capable of always exercising choice. Instead, human beings have elements of reason, which provide us with ethics and morals, and elements of animal consciousness, which urge us to act without regard to morality. It is because of this dual nature that human beings need rules and laws, so that humans can be instructed how to act in those situations where they can exercise a choice. However, Kant also recognizes that because human beings are not wholly rational beings, humans will sometimes succumb to non-rational impulses without regard to rules, and that humans often are unable to know which action is morally or ethically superior. Therefore, Kant argues that moral actions take into account how other people, acting within their understanding of the law, act and the impact of individual choice on those people. In fact, Kant argues that good will only exists when people are intentionally following the law, most especially when doing so conflicts with natural inclination. Furthermore, it is not the intended effect of an action, but the recognition of duty, that makes an action moral. In addition, morality has to depend on an unconditional statement of duty. It is a duty to act in a manner that is consistent with one's desires for universal law. However, it is also a duty to always treat humanity as an end and not merely a means to an end.

It is very difficult to resolve the dilemma by resorting to Kant's theory of ethics. Simply by applying the last duty, that one must always treat humanity as an end and not merely a means to an end, one sees a tremendous conflict in an ethical resolution. For example, that duty would prevent a pharmacist from refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control pills because they might prevent implantation because doing so would be treating the patients as a means to an end, rather than as an end. On the other hand, it would also prevent patients from asking ethically or morally opposed pharmacists to fill those prescriptions because doing so would be treating those pharmacists as merely a means to an end. Likewise, that duty would prevent pharmacies and the state from compelling pharmacists to fill ethically offensive prescriptions. However, Kant also stresses the importance of reason over instinct. Science does not support the position that birth control pills do not inhibit ovulation, but actually inhibit implantation. Therefore, the pharmacist has a duty to fill the prescription, despite instincts to the contrary. Even if that were not the case, as long as birth control is legal, pharmacists have a duty to comply with those laws. Compelling that compliance is not a violation of the duty owed to humanity because people make the choice to become pharmacists with the knowledge that birth control pills and other controversial medicines are legal and will be prescribed to patients.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Immanuel Kant, , Furthermore Kant's, Worth Texas, birth control, fill prescriptions, birth control pills, control pills, refuse fill, refuse fill prescriptions, fill prescription, moral ethical, pharmacists fill, virtue ethics, pharmacists refuse fill, pharmacist fill, prevent implantation, moral ethical objections, prescriptions birth control,
Approximate Word count = 2734
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)