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Wayne: Thanks for your comments, and I admit that the electric utility is an imperfect analogy. But pharmacists do perform a regulated public service, and I think it's fair to hold them to a slightly stricter service standard than, say, your average widget maker.

To answer your question: I would not force small-town physicians to perform abortions, nor lobotomies, nor breast augmentation. For that matter, I don't expect anybody who wants to practice pharmacy to violate their consciences either -- but I do think it's fair, then, to ask them not to practice pharmacy. We wouldn't expect a Christian Scientist to dispense prescriptions; this is not dissimilar, I think.

There's a difference, too, between the procedures you describe and the issue at hand. Abortions, lobotomies and breast augmentation are all extra-ordinary procedures, so access is necessarily limited. Reproductive health, though, requires ongoing maintenance -- and thus creates an undue burden on the public.

I'm not going to pretend this is easy; I'm sympathetic to matters of conscience. But I think the burden in this case falls upon the pharmacist, not the customer.