A pharmacist at a Target store who had religious objections to dispensing the morning-after pill was fired from her job after Planned Parenthood threatened to boycott the chain, according to Americans United for Life.

Target's corporate communications department in Minneapolis said the company "never failed to accommodate" the religious beliefs of pharmacist Heather Williams. It said that company policy, formulated without any involvement by Planned Parenthood, required all pharmacists to ensure that prescriptions to which they objected were filled by another Target pharmacist or at another pharmacy.

Target called the statements made in a news release by Americans United for Life "completely inaccurate and misleading."

Williams has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her attorney, Ed Martin Jr. of Americans United for Life, told the St. Louis Review, archdiocesan newspaper, that she is considering further action in state and federal courts.

Martin said the case shows the need for a law to offer conscience protection for pharmacists.

Americans United for Life, a public-interest law firm that provides legal expertise and strategies on pro-life matters, said that during her five years of employment Williams had conscientiously objected to being required to dispense the morning-after pill, a drug that the manufacturer says can cause the abortion of an early human embryo.

According to the firm, William's EEOC complaint alleges that Target discriminated against her based on her religious beliefs. Williams, 39, lives in St. Charles and is a member of First Baptist Church of Harvester.

Martin said Williams' firing "illustrates the spreading intolerance that groups like Planned Parenthood have for those who disagree with their agenda. No longer are they content to promote their views in their clinics and state legislatures. Now they want private businesses to fire innocent employees who just don't want to be involved in their agenda."

Target always had accommodated her objection and dispensed the drug to their customers without Williams' involvement, Americans United for Life said.

"Under the threat of a Planned Parenthood boycott, the chain decided to cease protecting her right of conscience and terminate her employment," it said in a news release.

In its statement, Target officials said the company "is committed to accommodating our team members' religious beliefs and practices, and we pride ourselves on being one of the most employee-friendly companies."

Williams, a pharmacist for more than 16 years, and Target agree that she had not been asked to fill a prescription for the morning-after pill and that her store did not carry the drug.

But Williams said that after Planned Parenthood got involved in a dispute at a Fenton, Mo., Target, she and other pharmacists were asked to sign a contract stating that if they would not fill a prescription for the morning-after pill they would find a pharmacy with it in stock and provide the customer with directions to that outlet.

"I couldn't sign it because I felt that even being a part of transferring that (prescription) is being a participant," she told the St. Louis Review. "I wrote a letter back explaining why I can't sign it and asking if I could stop short and say, 'I'm sorry, I can't fill this prescription.' That would have been the end of the story. And if they pressed me why, I had a ready answer --- it was because we did not have it in stock."

The pill known as Plan B uses large doses of a birth-control drug to prevent conception up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. It can have an abortifacient effect by preventing implantation or the survival of an embryo, according to the U.S. bishops' conference.

Planned Parenthood issued several statements last year condemning Target for its policy that allows pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control, including emergency contraception.

"Women should never be denied legal medications by pharmacists who decide to impose their own personal bias on others," Karen Pearl, Planned Parenthood interim president, said in November. "Until Target improves its policy, it will continue to receive a thumbs down from Planned Parenthood."

A bill currently before the Missouri Senate would protect the conscience rights of pharmaceutical professionals. It states that they shall not be required to perform, assist, recommend, refer for or participate in any service involving a particular drug or device that they have a good-faith belief is used for abortions.

---CNS