Here's a news item from the Associated Press:  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Board of Pharmacy says it has no basis to start proceedings against Walgreens in a complaint that alleged one of the drug store's pharmacists in Nampa improperly refused to fill a prescription. A Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest nurse practitioner contended the pharmacist in November abused the state's 2010 conscience law to balk at filling a prescription for a drug that helps control bleeding after childbirth or abortions. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, executive director Mark Johnston told Planned Parenthood that the board concluded the pharmacist didn't violate patient confidentiality laws by inquiring if she had received an abortion. In addition, Johnston said there was no requirement in the Idaho Pharmacy Act for a pharmacist to fill a prescription. He said the investigation is being closed "without further action." Click below for more on this.

Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest officials say the board's decision is disheartening but motivational for seeking legislative changes or an outright repeal of the law.

"We're disappointed. We're not surprised," Kristen Glundberg-Prossor, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, told the Idaho Press Tribune. "This decision confirms that, in Idaho, a pharmacist has no duty to fill any prescription for any reason. Right now, there is no protection under Idaho law for patients to receive treatment if a pharmacist refuses to provide it."

Planned Parenthood officials had also complained that the pharmacist inquired if the patient needed the drug for post-abortion care. The nurse refused to answer the question based on confidentiality of health information.

"If these refusals keep happening for whatever reason, people are not going to get the health care they deserve," Glundberg-Prossor said.

The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the Republican majority in the Idaho House and Senate last year, then signed by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter. The intent was to shield nurses and pharmacists opposed to providing treatment for end-of-life care, abortions, emergency contraception and stem-cell therapy.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.