[Pflienews] PharmFacts E-News Update: IN senate panel passes SD-type Conscience Clause

Thu Jan 10 07:11:23 MST 2008

*PharmFacts E-News Update -- 10 Jan 2008 AD

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080110/NEWS07/801100315/1002/LOCAL
IN senate panel passes SD-type Conscience Clause
PFLI president Karen Brauer, MS, RPh, testified before the IN Senate 
panel that affirmed Pharmacist Rights of Conscience*

Published: January 10, 2008 6:00 a.m.

    General Assembly

  Split panel OKs pharmacist ethics

        Unclear whether workers protected if refusing Plan B
        contraceptive sales

          By Niki Kelly

            The Journal Gazette

INDIANAPOLIS -- Despite confusion over the intent and practical effect 
of a pharmacists' conscience bill, a Senate panel approved the 
legislation Wednesday that critics said could impede access to 
contraceptive pills and devices.

"I don't believe anyone on this committee believes we need to turn 
Indiana back to 1965," said [pro-abortion] Sen. Vi Simpson, 
D-Bloomington, who voted against Senate Bill 3 along with her three 
Democratic colleagues and one Republican.

Six other Republicans voted "yes," sending the legislation to the full 
Senate for amendments.

The bill, authored by Sen. Jeff Drozda, R-Carmel, said no pharmacist can 
be required to dispense a drug or medical device if the pharmacist 
believes it will be used for any of three reasons:

. To cause an abortion.

. To destroy an unborn child (which is undefined).

. To cause the death of a person by assisted suicide, euthanasia or a 
mercy killing.

A pharmacist who uses one of these sections to refuse service can't be 
disciplined under the bill. If the employer does so anyway, the employer 
can be charged with a criminal offense.

Drozda could not give an example of a drug that would fall under the 
bill and could not explain the difference between the abortion section 
and the section involving an unborn child.

The Indiana Pharmacists' Alliance said it has heard of no instances in 
which a pharmacist was disciplined for abiding by his religious or 
ethical beliefs. But Drozda said he has a constituent who was suspended 
for refusing to give out Plan B.

Plan B is an emergency contraceptive given within a few days of 
unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy. If the woman is older than 18, no 
prescription is needed, although the pills are often kept behind the 
counter.

Some pharmacists, including one who testified Wednesday [PFLI president 
Karen Brauer], believe that Plan B and other hormonal birth control 
pills kill early human embryos.

The matter is complicated because the bill has no definition for unborn 
child and the Senate is considering a separate bill to define life as 
beginning when the egg is fertilized by a sperm [a scientific oxymoron].

Drozda said repeatedly there was nothing in his bill to affect 
contraception. But at the same time he said he patterned the bill after 
a South Dakota law that allows pharmacists to refuse to dispense 
emergency contraception [sic].

It is one of only four states with such a law, according to the National 
Conference of State Legislatures.

The legislation would not affect the drug commonly called Mifepristone 
[RU486], which is given by a doctor in a clinical setting to medically 
abort a [baby].

The next step for supporters and opponents is to try to find a 
definition that makes clear whether the bill covers dispensing 
contraceptives.

"We won't agree on one," Drozda said. "That's been the battle before 
because it comes down to when you believe life begins."

nkelly at jg.net <mailto:nkelly at jg.net>

See the PFLI Main Page (above the News headline) for definitive science 
on the humanity of the zygote...
http://www.pfli.org/

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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
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