[Pflienews] PFLI E-News Update: Pro-Life Pharmacists Under Attack in Wisconsin

Tue Mar 4 10:43:34 MST 2008

*PharmFacts E-News Update -- 4 Mar 2008 AD #3
*

For Immediate Release

March 4, 2008

Contact: Matt Sande, Director of Legislation, (262) 352-0890

Or Virginia Zignego, Communications Director, (262) 796-1111

* *

*Pro-Life Pharmacists Under Attack in Wisconsin*

/Bill forcing pharmacists to dispense abortifacient drugs to receive 
public hearing/

/ /

The Senate health committee will hold a public hearing Wednesday, March 
5, on Senate Bill (SB) 232, the so-called "Birth Control Protection 
Act." The legislation would force all licensed Wisconsin pharmacists, 
regardless of their medical and moral judgment, to dispense the 
morning-after pill and other FDA-approved abortifacient contraceptive 
drugs. The legislation also redefines the statutory definition of 
abortion to exclude all FDA-approved contraceptive drugs and devices. 
Violators would be subject to current law standard of practice penalties 
ranging from forfeitures to license revocation. Pro-Life Wisconsin 
strongly opposes SB 232 and will publicly testify against the bill.

"This bill is not about access to birth control at all," said Peggy 
Hamill, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. "Birth control is 
everywhere -- even the morning-after pill is now accessible over the 
counter for those aged 18 and over. *What this bill is really about is 
forcing pro-life pharmacists to cast aside any moral or medical qualms 
about birth control and do the bidding of the birth control industry*."

It is a medical fact that the morning-after pill (a high dosage of the 
birth control pill) and most, if not all, birth control drugs and 
devices including the intrauterine device (IUD), Depo Provera, Norplant, 
the Patch, and the Pill can act to /terminate/ a pregnancy by chemically 
altering the lining of the uterus (endometrium) so that a newly 
conceived child is unable to implant in the womb, thus starving and 
dying. This mechanism of action is termed a pre-implantation chemical 
abortion. One need only explore the websites of individual abortifacient 
brand-name drugs to verify their abortion causing effect.

"Excluding the morning-after pill and other abortion-causing birth 
control drugs from the legal definition of abortion does not change the 
fact that they can and do cause early chemical abortions," said Hamill. 
"Simply wishing something to be true does not make it so."

/ /

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the 
right to freely exercise one's religious convictions. The Wisconsin 
Constitution expressly protects the rights of conscience. Under Article 
1, Section 18, of our state constitution, "any control of, or 
interference with, the rights of conscience" shall not be permitted.

"Respect for individual conscience rights is a bedrock American 
principle," said Matt Sande, Pro-Life Wisconsin's legislative director. 
"We don't force people to take up arms who conscientiously oppose war. 
Why then would we force pharmacists to participate in the killing of 
preborn children? *Whether or not legislators agree or disagree with 
specific moral objections, their sworn oaths to the state and federal 
constitutions command them to respect and protect them. They can't pick 
and choose which conscience rights to protect or reject*."

Conscientious pharmacists exercise their refusal to dispense birth 
control in a peaceful, non-judgmental and professional manner. They 
often have accommodations in place with their employers so that 
customers can access contraceptives from other pharmacists on staff or, 
if no other pharmacist is available, from other nearby pharmacies.

*"Senate Bill 232 would completely abrogate any and all good-faith 
accommodations between pharmacists of conscience and their employers,"* 
said Sande. "Pharmacists, like doctors and nurses, are valued members of 
the professional health care team who should not be forced to choose 
between their consciences and their livelihoods. No pharmacist should 
have to daily check his or her conscience at the door. Just as a woman's 
legal right to a surgical abortion does not compel a hospital to provide 
one, a woman's legal right to abortifacient drugs and devices should not 
compel a pharmacist to dispense them," said Sande.

According to Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life 
International (PFLI), pharmacists who refuse to dispense birth control 
to their female customers do so out of concern for the health of their 
female patients. "There are countless deaths of women from the birth 
control pill because it causes blood clots," said Brauer, explaining 
that many pharmacists' opposition to the pill and morning-after pill is 
based on both professional and moral concerns.

Warning that pharmacists would exit the profession if similar federal 
legislation were to be enacted, Brauer said, "There will be no more 
pharmacists. We are smart and we can get other jobs. The biggest victims 
are the patients who will be losing pharmacy services."

The public hearing will take place in Room 411 South of the state 
capitol building at 10:00 a.m.

-30-

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

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