[Pflienews] PharmFacts E-News Update: THE ROLE OF CONSCIENCE IN A PHARMACIST’S LIFE
PFLI PharmAid Center
pfli at pfli.org
Wed Jun 18 05:54:30 MDT 2008
*PharmFacts E-News Update -- 18 Jun 2008 AD
*
*THE ROLE OF CONSCIENCE IN A PHARMACIST’S LIFE
*/By Judie Brown, President of American Life League
/I recall reading a very profound statement written by Pope John Paul II
in his remarkable encyclical Veritatis Splendor
<http://nvs.all.org/sendstudio/link.php?M=22965&N=294&L=1227&F=H>. He said,
Although each individual has a right to be respected in his own
journey in search of the truth, there exists a prior moral
obligation, and a grave one at that, to seek the truth and to adhere
to it once it is known. As Cardinal John Henry Newman, that
outstanding defender of the rights of conscience forcefully put it:
‘Conscience has rights because it has duties.’
How true this is, particularly in view of the current harangue spewing
forth from the American Medical Association and its partner in crime,
the Washington Post.
Let me start by saying I have wondered for years about the moral compass
that guides the actions and various policy statements of the AMA. The
current attempt to force pharmacists to submit to the whims of the
cultural icons identified with sexual license is driving me to believe
that the AMA is nothing more than a shill for the devil himself. Why
else would the AMA Board of Trustees even consider approving a statement
like this one
<http://nvs.all.org/sendstudio/link.php?M=22965&N=294&L=1232&F=H>:
A pharmacist's deliberate refusal to dispense a drug on religious,
moral, or ethical grounds, i.e., pharmacist conscientious objection,
has been most often associated with Plan B, the emergency
contraceptive, and has received considerable attention in both the
lay media and in medical journal commentaries. Of all of the reasons
why a pharmacist might not dispense a legally valid prescription,
conscientious objection is the only one that places a pharmacist's
personal views in potential conflict with the best interests of the
patient.
This statement is poppycock and I will tell you why. First of all, this
statement rejects the undeniable fact that the morning after pill and
all chemical birth control pills can, and do, abort embryonic children.
Therefore, the use of such chemicals, which are nothing more than
recreational drugs, is morally abhorrent and could never be equated with
anything legal or valid when one considers it in light of the natural law.
Second, and perhaps more important, is the erroneous nature of the
suggestion that ingesting such chemicals is in the best interest of the
patient. How could a chemical that is not being used to treat an illness
ever be in the best interest of the patient? What sort of condition
renders said patient in need of a birth control pill if not nothing more
or less than a desire not to bear a child? Is that a medical condition
or a state of mind? And, if it is a state of mind, why would anyone
prescribe an artificial hormone for it?
I think you get my point. The only reason the AMA would ever consider
putting pharmacists in the impossible position of ignoring natural law
and pretending conscience did not dictate adherence to basic truth would
be to serve the self-centered needs of America’s sexually saturated culture.
Furthermore, the pro-life drugstores that have been springing up around
the country are gaining popularity and a client base. These drugstores
are not unlike any other major chains other than the fact that they will
not carry drugs that can kill babies. What a concept!
But the Washington Post is hot on their trail and the underlying message
from the Post is that there is something inherently wrong when a
drugstore refuses to carry products that some women view as a must-have
part of their social-planning calendar.
The Post reports
<http://nvs.all.org/sendstudio/link.php?M=22965&N=294&L=1210&F=H>,
"critics say the stores could create dangerous obstacles for women
seeking legal, safe and widely used birth control methods."
Now let me see. What could the danger be if not the possibility of
procreating a baby? The obstacles to which they refer must be the
possibility that a man and a woman might have to refrain from sexual
relations because they are neither married nor ready to have a family!
The woman who is "seeking legal, safe and widely-used birth control
methods" is, in the majority of cases, a woman who is on a mission that
has little to do with saving her own soul or surrendering her ability to
procreate to God so that His will is her greatest desire.
Now don’t me wrong. I realize that many married women honestly believe
there is nothing wrong with the birth control pill. That is a sad
reality of our time, but it is not one that should become the governing
force behind a drive to rob ethical pro-life pharmacists of their right
to serve God and conscience first and always.
It is no accident that the drive by the AMA’s Board of Trustees and the
current spate of national news about the audacity of pro-life
pharmacists expressing their moral concerns are occurring
simultaneously. It is no surprise that, if not for the heroic efforts of
Pharmacists for Life International
<http://nvs.all.org/sendstudio/link.php?M=22965&N=294&L=1226&F=H>, there
would be no headlines today or AMA proposal in the first place.
The leadership of PFLI, an American Life League associate group, is to
be commended for they, under the watchful eye of founder Bo Kuhar, have
worked tirelessly to help pharmacists find their moral compass, exercise
their freedom to be free of deadly chemicals and devices in their
practice and to be courageous enough to tell the world why
contraceptives are wrong. After all, as PFLI President Karen Brauer told
the Washington Post when speaking about the reasons why pro-life
pharmacies exist,
This allows a pharmacist who does not wish to be involved in
stopping a human life in any way to practice in a way that feels
comfortable.
In conclusion – which it sadly is not as I firmly believe that the
medical establishment will continue to pressure pro-life pharmacists for
years to come – I would like to remind you of what Pope Benedict XVI had
to say on this most urgent matter of conscience
<http://nvs.all.org/sendstudio/link.php?M=22965&N=294&L=1225&F=H>:
It is not possible to anesthetize the conscience, for example, when
it comes to molecules whose aim is to stop an embryo implanting or
to cut short someone's life... I invite your federation [of
pharmacists] to consider conscientious objection which is a right
that must be recognized for your profession so you can avoid
collaborating, directly or indirectly, in the supply of products
which have clearly immoral aims, for example abortion or euthanasia...
The Holy Father said those words to Catholic pharmacists in October of
last year. Isn’t it a shame the AMA wasn’t listening!
[PFLI comment: Thanks to Judie for this unsolicited commentary.
Fortunately for pharmacists and the public, the AMA has no moral,
ethical or regulatory authority over the profession of pharmacy, as it
should be.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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800-227-8359
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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
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