State orders Wal-Mart to sell morning-after pill

Wal-Mart said yesterday it will start stocking and selling the emergency contraceptive drug Plan B at its 44 Massachusetts pharmacies and is giving serious consideration to carrying the drug at all of its stores nationwide.

The world's biggest retailer acted after the state Board of Registration in Pharmacy voted unanimously to require Wal-Mart to stock and dispense Plan B, a high dose of hormones that women can take three to five days after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy.

The only other state where Wal-Mart sells the so-called morning-after pill is Illinois, where a state law requires it. Elsewhere, Wal-Mart has refused to stock the drug for undisclosed ''business reasons."

Dan Fogleman, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the Arkansas-based chain would comply with the Massachusetts pharmacy board's ruling ''as soon as reasonably possible" and was reviewing its stance on Plan B nationally.

''We are actively thinking through this issue," he said.

Wal-Mart operates 3,400 pharmacies nationwide. Unlike Massachusetts, where pharmacies are plentiful, Wal-Mart in some communities around the country is the only place where residents can fill prescriptions.

''What's happening here in Massachusetts is really a turning point," said Melissa Kogut, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, a reproductive health advocacy group that supports abortion rights but says Plan B is a contraception issue, not one of abortion. NARAL and the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts have been urging Wal-Mart to change its Plan B policy for months.

Marie Sturgis, the executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, an opponent of abortion, said there was no reason for the pharmacy board to require Wal-Mart to carry Plan B because every other pharmacy in the state carries the drug.

''This thing is as wide open as a bowling alley," Sturgis said. She said women ''can go right down the street and get the drug. They're not cornered or victimized in any way."

Sturgis said Citizens for Life opposes Plan B because it's a ''chemical abortion" and because its long-term health effects are unknown.

The pharmacy board issued its ruling in response to a complaint filed Feb. 1 by three women who brought prescriptions for Plan B to Wal-Mart pharmacies in Quincy and Lynn and were turned away. The women on the same day sued Wal-Mart in state court.

In making its decision, the pharmacy board cited a regulation requiring all pharmacies to dispense ''commonly prescribed medications in accordance with the usual needs of the community."

Wal-Mart had said it thought it was in compliance with the regulation, but would ''gladly comply" with whatever directive the board issued.

The board voted quickly after a brief discussion. James T. DeVita, the president-elect of the pharmacy board, said: ''How do you determine the needs of the community? You determine it by the prescriptions that are presented."

Karen Pearl, interim president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a reproductive health advocacy group that supports abortion rights, said in a statement that wider access to emergency contraception would prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce abortions.

The concept behind the Massachusetts lawsuit was developed by Colman M. Herman, 62, of Dorchester, a registered pharmacist since 1966 and an activist on consumer issues. Herman previously initiated lawsuits under the state's Consumer Protection Act against retailers, including Wal-Mart, for violating the state's item pricing law and ticket resellers for violating the state's antiscalping law.

Herman, who is working as a consultant to the law firm that filed the suit, said the store's refusal to sell Plan B stemmed from its ''desire to appeal to their fundamentalist, right-wing, gun-toting constituency."

Wal-Mart declined to comment.

Sam Perkins, the lawyer who represents the three women who sued Wal-Mart and filed a complaint with the pharmacy board, said yesterday's decision brings his clients the relief they had been seeking. He said the lawsuit would continue in an effort to reclaim attorneys fees and court costs.

Perkins's clients, Katrina McCarty of Somerville, Julie Battel of Jamaica Plain, and Rebekah Gee of Boston, tried to fill their prescriptions at Wal-Marts as part of a coordinated attempt to lay the groundwork for the lawsuit.

The board's decision comes in the wake of a law passed last year allowing pharmacists to dispense Plan B without a prescription if they undergo special training and consult regularly with a physician. The law also requires hospital emergency rooms to make emergency contraceptives available to rape victims.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.