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Pharmacists and Conscience: Where does it end?
A week or so ago, Loose Canon wrote an entry that began:
There was a very large problem with that statement. (Well, two, if you take issue with the use of "totalitarians" to describe an organization committed to protecting choice for women.) That problem was that it was factually wrong--like a lot of "facts" about reproduction and reproductive freedom that you hear on LC's side of the aisle.
RU-486 is an abortion pill. It is NOT available at pharmacies. You must go to an abortion provider to get it.
What you can get at a pharmacy: the "morning-after" pill (Preven, or Plan B).
The difference is vast.
You choose RU-486 when the egg and sperm have joined and the embryo has implanted. By the most rigid definition, "life" has begun. Thus, the pill starts an abortion process.
You choose Plan B to prevent ovulation and/or fertilization. The issue is thus one of prevention--of birth control. (In theory, Plan B could prevent implantation; there's no unequivocal evidence here.)
It's actually a more complicated issue, both biologically and ethically. Fertility doctors will tell you that around 50 percent of fertilized eggs are flushed out of a woman's body every month. That means: sperm and egg have joined, but not yet implanted. To religious extremists who define that fertilized egg as "life," half the population of heaven was never more than a few cells old.
Wal-Mart was being sued because its pharmacists--citing their "conscience" and their religious beliefs--refused to fill prescriptions for Plan B.
LC later corrected her post, acknowledging that she confused RU-486 and Plan B. But she went on to write:
This is willful ignorance of Plan B and her own biological process. If you want factual information--LC is allergic to it--here you go: About Plan B.)
Now let's move on to the larger issue: Those Wal-Mart pharmacists--they refused to fill prescriptions for Plan B, and, in the interest of consistency, refused also to fill prescriptions for birth-control pills? Really? I doubt it. So you have to wonder: Did anyone tell them that Plan B is nothing but a super-sized dose of birth control?
(For that matter, does LC understand this? If she does, does she support a pharmacist's right to refuse to fill birth-control prescriptions? My bet: She'd vote with the "conscientious" pharmacists who will have nothing to do with birth-control in any form--because from where she sits, isn't birth control murder? Naturally, she doesn't say this. Why? Because you'd think she's some kind of hard-core wingnut woman-hater, and you'd never pay attention to her again.)
I would wager that Wal-Mart would not be sympathetic to pharmacists who refuse to fork over birth-control pills. "Conscience" is one thing. Business is another. Very few women come in with scripts for Plan B; many come in for birth control. Do the math--Wal-Mart usually does.
Now let's look deeper into the "moral" issue: At what point does the pharmacist with "issues" slide down a slippery slope? "I won't fill Plan B script--and, by the way, the Bible condemns homosexuality, so I won't help customers seeking drugs to treat HIV/AIDS." Does that work for Wal-Mart? For LC? For you?
And why stop at the pharmacist? Doesn't the ambulance attendant have rights? If he/she believes gays are pawns of the devil, why force him/her to treat patients with HIV/AIDS? For that matter, can a "Christian" doctor refuse to help a bleeding woman who obviously had an illegal abortion?
Here's my view: You take a job at Wal-Mart, you're obligated to help customers buy any item in stock. You have a problem with that? Find a place to work where you're among like-minded people. And put a big sign up on the window: NO PLAN B HERE. Or: GOT HIV/AIDS? NO MEDICINE FOR YOU HERE. Or even: WE DO NOT SELL CONTRACEPTIVES OR BIRTH-CONTROL PRODUCTS. Test the appeal of your ideals in the free market--it's the American way.
Who knows? There may be a fortune to be made from women who want no part of our sick, secular society--and the men who believe you should never have sex if you don't want to have a baby. I don't know any men and women like that myself. But the White House insists there are millions and millions.
Looking for a new business idea? Here you go. Feel free to invite me to the grand opening.
The totalitarians at Planned Parenthood are waging a war against men and women of conscience who work in pharmacies and, because of religious beliefs, refuse to fill prescriptions for the abortion-inducing RU486.
There was a very large problem with that statement. (Well, two, if you take issue with the use of "totalitarians" to describe an organization committed to protecting choice for women.) That problem was that it was factually wrong--like a lot of "facts" about reproduction and reproductive freedom that you hear on LC's side of the aisle.
RU-486 is an abortion pill. It is NOT available at pharmacies. You must go to an abortion provider to get it.
What you can get at a pharmacy: the "morning-after" pill (Preven, or Plan B).
The difference is vast.
You choose RU-486 when the egg and sperm have joined and the embryo has implanted. By the most rigid definition, "life" has begun. Thus, the pill starts an abortion process.
You choose Plan B to prevent ovulation and/or fertilization. The issue is thus one of prevention--of birth control. (In theory, Plan B could prevent implantation; there's no unequivocal evidence here.)
It's actually a more complicated issue, both biologically and ethically. Fertility doctors will tell you that around 50 percent of fertilized eggs are flushed out of a woman's body every month. That means: sperm and egg have joined, but not yet implanted. To religious extremists who define that fertilized egg as "life," half the population of heaven was never more than a few cells old.
Wal-Mart was being sued because its pharmacists--citing their "conscience" and their religious beliefs--refused to fill prescriptions for Plan B.
LC later corrected her post, acknowledging that she confused RU-486 and Plan B. But she went on to write:
How can you take a morning-after pill and regard it as an ounce of prevention? I don't know, but supporters of the pill argue that it is an ounce of prevention after the fact.
This is willful ignorance of Plan B and her own biological process. If you want factual information--LC is allergic to it--here you go: About Plan B.)
Now let's move on to the larger issue: Those Wal-Mart pharmacists--they refused to fill prescriptions for Plan B, and, in the interest of consistency, refused also to fill prescriptions for birth-control pills? Really? I doubt it. So you have to wonder: Did anyone tell them that Plan B is nothing but a super-sized dose of birth control?
(For that matter, does LC understand this? If she does, does she support a pharmacist's right to refuse to fill birth-control prescriptions? My bet: She'd vote with the "conscientious" pharmacists who will have nothing to do with birth-control in any form--because from where she sits, isn't birth control murder? Naturally, she doesn't say this. Why? Because you'd think she's some kind of hard-core wingnut woman-hater, and you'd never pay attention to her again.)
I would wager that Wal-Mart would not be sympathetic to pharmacists who refuse to fork over birth-control pills. "Conscience" is one thing. Business is another. Very few women come in with scripts for Plan B; many come in for birth control. Do the math--Wal-Mart usually does.
Now let's look deeper into the "moral" issue: At what point does the pharmacist with "issues" slide down a slippery slope? "I won't fill Plan B script--and, by the way, the Bible condemns homosexuality, so I won't help customers seeking drugs to treat HIV/AIDS." Does that work for Wal-Mart? For LC? For you?
And why stop at the pharmacist? Doesn't the ambulance attendant have rights? If he/she believes gays are pawns of the devil, why force him/her to treat patients with HIV/AIDS? For that matter, can a "Christian" doctor refuse to help a bleeding woman who obviously had an illegal abortion?
Here's my view: You take a job at Wal-Mart, you're obligated to help customers buy any item in stock. You have a problem with that? Find a place to work where you're among like-minded people. And put a big sign up on the window: NO PLAN B HERE. Or: GOT HIV/AIDS? NO MEDICINE FOR YOU HERE. Or even: WE DO NOT SELL CONTRACEPTIVES OR BIRTH-CONTROL PRODUCTS. Test the appeal of your ideals in the free market--it's the American way.
Who knows? There may be a fortune to be made from women who want no part of our sick, secular society--and the men who believe you should never have sex if you don't want to have a baby. I don't know any men and women like that myself. But the White House insists there are millions and millions.
Looking for a new business idea? Here you go. Feel free to invite me to the grand opening.
