[Pflienews] PharmFacts E-News Update: Abortion pill worries Canadian pharms; MT to introduce conscience clause sparked by PP persecution
PFLI PharmAid Center
pfli at pfli.org
Thu Apr 24 06:05:28 MDT 2008
*PharmFacts E-News Update -- 24 Apr 2008 AD
*http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=461845
Plan B pill proposal worries pharmacists
*Tom Blackwell, National Post * Published: Monday, April 21, 2008
The "morning-after" contraceptive, Plan B.
The eupehmistically named "morning-after" abortion pill, Plan B.
Canadians could have the most liberal access to the morning-after pill
in the Western world, according to critics of proposed changes to how
the drug is sold here.
An expert advisory committee has urged that the single-dose version of
Plan B be available off the shelf at pharmacies, without women having to
consult a pharmacist first. The recommendation would mean people could
buy emergency contraceptives much the way they can Aspirin or vitamins.
A women's group has applauded the recommendation as a way to increase
access to the pill, but pharmacists are objecting, saying Plan B
customers would miss out on the invaluable information and advice
druggists currently provide.
"Emergency contraceptives would be more readily available here [under
the proposal] than in any developed country," said Janet Cooper of the
Canadian Pharmacists Association.
"I'm not sure how comfortable the general public might be if a
14-year-old could just walk in, pick it up off the shelf, buy it, not
have any interaction with anybody and come back a month later and do the
same thing. That's not in that girl's best interests."
Ms. Cooper said pharmacists now counsel Plan B consumers on obtaining
regular contraceptives and practising safe sex and sometimes refer them
to sexual-health clinics. Pharmacists also find that about a third of
potential customers do not need the pill because their regular
birth-control would have protected them, or they are too late for it to
work, Ms. Cooper said.
Others, though, say easier access would get the pill to more women who
need it. Advocacy groups have long complained that some pharmacists are
effectively scaring off women by asking overly intimate questions of
Plan B buyers.
The proposed change would remove barriers for women uncomfortable
discussing personal matters with a druggist, said Abby Lippman, a McGill
University epidemiologist and prominent member of the Canadian Women's
Health Network.
"I would just as soon that it be sold anywhere," said Dr. Lippman.
Emergency contraceptives, costing about $30 a treatment, contain an
enhanced dose of the hormone progestin, used in some regular
birth-control medication. It prevents pregnancy 89% of the time if taken
within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
The federal government allowed the pill to be sold without a doctor's
prescription as of early 2005. Since then, the number of tablets ordered
by pharmacies has more than doubled, hitting 638,000 units in the year
that ended last September, according to IMS Health Canada, which tracks
drug sales.
It is up to the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities
(NAPRA) to decide how such drugs can be sold within pharmacies. Another
body, the National Drug Scheduling Advisory Committee, recommended the
association change the rules for Plan B recently after an application
from the drug's manufacturer, Paladin Labs Inc.
NAPRA will make the final ruling by about May 14. Although the
organization is soliciting input from interested parties, it usually
accepts the expert panel's advice on such matters, said Sandra Carey, a
Newfoundland pharmacist and the association's president.
Three other countries -- Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands -- allow the
morning-after pill to be sold "in front of the counter" as the advisory
committee is recommending, said Ms. Cooper of the pharmacists' association.
In practice, though, the drugs are sold in those jurisdictions much the
way they are now in Canada, requiring the consumer to talk to a
pharmacist or pharmacy assistant, she said.
Dr. Judith Soon, a University of British Columbia pharmacology professor
who has studied the topic extensively, said the recommended change
"could be a very positive move for access."
However, she said there is no evidence yet that requiring women to talk
to a pharmacist before buying the pill does, in fact, deter some from
taking advantage of the drug. And pharmacists provide important
counselling on birth control and sexually transmitted disease to women
who come in for the pill, said Dr. Soon.
In fact, the most important benefit of Plan B may be in introducing
women to the health-care system, she said. No research has yet shown the
pill reduces the number of abortions or teen pregnancies, as advocates
have long hoped, she said.
/National Post/
/tblackwell at nationalpost.com
/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
/
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/NEWS01/80423020
/
*Pharmacy board cites lack of law in "birth-control" case*
By KATIE OYAN
Associated Press Writer
HELENA (AP) --- The Montana Board of Pharmacy took no action Wednesday
after hearing comment on the issue of pharmacists who refuse to dispense
[so-called] "contraceptives" because of religious beliefs.
*Montana currently has no rule or statute that requires pharmacies to
stock every drug on the market, and "we decided to leave it at that,"
board President Jim Cloud of Stevensville said.*
Board member Mark Meredith of Helena added that a decision on whether
new regulations are necessary should come fromstate lawmakers, not the
six-member pharmacy board.
"I think we should wait and see what happens in the Legislature," he said.
Planned Parenthood of Montana [which has begun a campaign pf persecuting
pharmacists of conscience] requested time on the board's agenda in
response to recent incidents in which pharmacists in Great Falls and
Broadus refused to fill patients' prescriptions for [so-called] "birth
control" and "morning-after" [abortifacient] pills because of their
religious beliefs.
Stacey Anderson, the organization's director of public affairs, urged
the board Wednesday to establish a rule that protects women's access to
birth control. She asked board members to be proactive in addressing the
issue to "prevent future personal refusals and to clearly define the
standard of care expected of licensed pharmacies."
"Passively allowing pharmacies to refuse service to patients because an
alternative exists in that community does not address the issue at hand
--- that patients' medical needs are being denied because of another
individual's personal beliefs," Anderson said. "As the state's agent,
the Montana Board of Pharmacy has a legitimate interest in ensuring that
pharmacists' personal beliefs do not impede access to legally prescribed
medication."
After the meeting, Anderson said her organization will continue to look
for ways to make its case through "administrative and legal avenues."
She added that she doesn't agree that the issue should be decided by the
state's lawmakers.
"Politics in Montana changes every two years, and that's not how health
care should be regulated," Anderson said.
Jeff Laszloffy, president and CEO of the Montana Family Foundation, said
he was glad the board decided not to "usurp the authority of the
Legislature."
Laszloffy told the board that the people's elected representatives are
the ones who should be wrestling with such "gut-wrenching moral and
ethical issues."
"Planned Parenthood is famous for saying that government should never be
allowed to come between a woman and her physician, yet they're asking
you to do something even more egregious," he said. "They're asking you
to place government squarely between a pharmacist and God."
*Laszloffy said his group will be backing a "physician's conscience
clause" during the upcoming legislative session that protects
physicians, pharmacists and other health care professionals from being
forced to participate in any act that violates their conscience. Similar
bills have passed in nine other states, he said. *
Others who spoke to the board Wednesday included Scott Crichton,
executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana; and
John Lane, the Broadus pharmacist who made headlines in the fall when he
announced he would stop dispensing contraceptives.
Lane told the board he doesn't believe a person's beliefs should be
legislated against.
Lane, a Roman Catholic, believes human life should be both recognized
and protected from conception. He stopped dispensing contraceptives in
January and said he doesn't believe residents in his rural southeastern
Montana town have had much difficulty accessing them elsewhere.
Crichton, meanwhile, said pharmacies are state-regulated businesses that
have a responsibility to supply medication to patients. They serve the
general public, including people of diverse backgrounds and faith, he said.
"Because of this, a pharmacy operates in the public world and should
play by public rules," Crichton said. "If an individual pharmacist has a
religious objection to selling birth control, that objection should be
honored so long as the pharmacy ensures that the patient remains able to
purchase birth control onsite in a timely manner."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PFLI PharmAid Center
pfli at pfli.org <mailto:pfli at pfli.org>
PO Box 1281
Powell, OH 43065-1281 USA
800-227-8359
www.pfli.org
PFLI supports pharmacist rights of conscience NOT to be forced to
dispense or counsel for chemicals which violate their sincerely held
religious, moral or ethical beliefs. For more info see:
http://www.pfli.org/main.php?pfli=conscienceclausefaq
*** PFLI is the only pharmacy association which is exclusively pro-life.
It represents thousands of pharmacists and many lay supporters
in the USA, Canada and all around the globe. For membership info, key
PFLI texts, PFLI archives, late-breaking news, abridged newsletter excerpts
or general information, visit the PFLI web site at http://www.pfli.org.
Or e-mail us at mailto:pfli at pfli.org.
*** We do NOT send out SPAM. To subscribe to PharmFacts E-News, just
send an e-mail with the word
"subscribe" in the subject area; to cease your subscription (although
we can't
imagine anyone would!) just send an e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the
subject area, or
manage your account at: http://pfli.org/mailman/listinfo/pflienews_pfli.org
*** You may contact PFLI at any/all of the following: Pharmacists For
Life International,
PO Box 1281, Powell, OH 43065-1281 USA, 1-800-227-8359 [US & Canada only],
+1-740-881-5520 [voice] or +1-707-667-2447 [fax]; e-mail us at
mailto:pfli at pfli.org.
*** You can order our publications as well as begin/renew your
membership right on our
website at http://www.pfli.org. Click on the "PFLI Store" link on the
toolbar and
follow the prompts! There you can also donate to PFLI as well as
purchase a wide range of publications.
* *
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://pfli.org/pipermail/pflienews_pfli.org/attachments/20080424/9441c7fb/attachment-0001.html
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 14952 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://pfli.org/pipermail/pflienews_pfli.org/attachments/20080424/9441c7fb/attachment-0002.jpe
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 461847.bin
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 9358 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://pfli.org/pipermail/pflienews_pfli.org/attachments/20080424/9441c7fb/attachment-0003.jpe
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 2923 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://pfli.org/pipermail/pflienews_pfli.org/attachments/20080424/9441c7fb/attachment-0001.gif
More information about the PFLIENews
mailing list