After Republicans attempted to shut down New Hampshire’s Planned Parenthood branches by blocking state funds, an anti-choice organization is now claiming that Planned Parenthood is ineligible to dispense prescription contraceptives when the clinics gained federal money to remain open instead.
But the New Hampshire Board of Pharmacy announced that it needs more information from Planned Parenthood of Northern New England before it could renew the clinics’ pharmaceutical licenses:
The New Hampshire Board of Pharmacy has decided that Planned Parenthood of Northern New England needs to provide additional information before it can renew the organization’s pharmaceutical licenses.
New Hampshire Right-to-Life has pushed the regulatory board to deny Planned Parenthood its licenses, claiming the clinics lost their ability to dispense birth control pills, RU-486 and other related prescriptions in June 2011 when the Executive Council killed a contract with the organization to provide women’s health and family planning services at clinics around the state. […]
State law requires a licensed pharmacist to dispense prescriptions, but it contains an exemption for family-planning clinics if they operate under contract with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. Planned Parenthood’s contract is with the federal Health and Human Services agency.
The board said Planned Parenthood’s application was incomplete because it did not include written protocols for safely dispensing medication, so it will reconsider the information at another meeting.
A Planned Parenthood official said the board’s decision allows Planned Parenthood clinics in New Hampshire to continue providing contraception and medications “under a limited retail drug distribution license” while the board considers their renewal application. “While we find the board’s request that PPNNE submit information beyond what is required by the application process to be unprecedented and inconsistent with the license renewal standards, we will nonetheless seek to cooperate with the board — to keep our renewal process on track and to ensure that the needs of our patients are not disrupted,” said Jennifer Frizzell, senior policy adviser for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.