[Pflienews] PharmFacts E-News Update: IN cans CC, IL pharmacists continue suit; PPWW had friends in driveby media

[PFLI PharmAid Center]

*PharmFacts E-News Update -- 19 Mar 2008 AD +St Joseph
*


http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=49692&comview=1&sc=1

*Controversial bills terminated in Indiana House of Representatives*

Katie Ingmire <mailto:kingmire at indiana.edu> | IDS | Date: 3/18/2008


[...]

*Abortion bill had passed state senate in January*

An Indiana Senate bill that would have allowed pharmacists to refuse to 
dispense prescriptions or medical devices that they [know] induce 
abortions or assist suicide died in the state's House of Representatives 
Monday.

Senate Bill 3, which passed the Senate Jan. 29 with a 30-18 vote, would 
have given pharmacists the power to deny customers drugs or devices they 
thought would cause abortion, assisted suicide or death through 
euthanasia or mercy killing. Opponents of the bill claimed if the bill 
had passed, women's access to birth control and other forms of 
contraception would be limited.

The bill's death has caused mixed reactions among IU students.

"I'm a little disappointed," said IU senior and pro-life advocate Joe 
Pacold, adding that he didn't think it would have made much of a 
difference if the bill had passed. "There's nothing to prevent you from 
going to another pharmacy" if a pharmacist denied the prescription, he said.

Sophomore Laura Sargent said pharmacists would be "stepping above their 
job" if given this power.

"That would be weird if a pharmacist would use their own judgment and 
use their own religious morals and backgrounds because they don't know 
this person's life and this person's background," Sargent said. "They 
shouldn't be the final say."
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*Luke Vander Bleek, RPh, one of the PFLI plaintiffs against Guv "Slobodan"
*

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h39ki-Oi9lRg7b4YQzXN0ZyIa2RgD8VG3UU00


  Ill. High Court Considers Pharmacy Rules

By JOHN O'CONNOR -- 14 hours ago

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) --- A group of pharmacists asked the Illinois 
Supreme Court on Tuesday to throw out a rule that forces them to 
dispense emergency contraception despite moral objections, claiming it 
amounts to illegal coercion [and a violation of freedom of religion].

Gov. Rod *[a.k.a "Slobodan] * Blagojevich issued the rule in April 2005, 
prohibiting pharmacies from turning away women seeking emergency 
contraception. The medicine is a higher dosage of typical hormonal 
contraception, and if taken within three days of having sex it greatly 
reduces the chance of pregnancy.

Pharmacists who do not want to dispense the drug say it is [...] 
abortion. The closely watched case mirrors concerns raised in other states.

The druggists [sic] argued that Illinois law protects them from choosing 
between violating their consciences and losing their licenses, and that 
they shouldn't have to wait until they're out of jobs to seek justice.

A lawyer for Blagojevich argued that the pharmacies in the lawsuit don't 
have standing to sue because they have suffered no repercussions. Laura 
Wunder, an assistant state attorney general, also said those pharmacies 
don't even stock so-called "morning-after" medication, so it's unlikely 
they would violate the rule.

In oral arguments, however, justices bluntly pointed out to Wunder that 
the pharmacies must get the drug if requested --- and that their 
licenses would be at risk if they failed to comply.

Wunder countered that the pharmacies have been unable to show that 
they're in jeopardy of state penalties because it's unlikely that a 
customer would ask a drug store to order a medicine that is needed right 
away.

The pharmacists' lawyer, Mark Rienzi, said his clients should be able to 
sue even if they haven't suffered repercussions.

Rienzi argued they are protected by two state laws: one that prohibits 
forcing health care decisions over moral objections, and one insulating 
citizens from religious interference.

"They are designed to protect people from coercion and burden," Rienzi 
said. "They are not only designed to protect people after the ax has 
fallen, after your license is taken away, after your career is ruined."

Since the pharmacists sued in 2005, a pharmacy owned by one plaintiff 
closed because no pharmacist would work there under the state's threat 
of license revocation.

Rienzi said outside of court that generally, customers who are denied 
the drug have accepted that they had to go elsewhere for it, although 
they could have complained and forced state sanctions on the stores.

A federal judge suspended a similar requirement in Washington state in 
November but said pharmacists who refuse to dispense the morning-after 
pill must refer the customer to another nearby source. That case is on 
appeal.

The Illinois rule led to several lawsuits, including one in federal 
court that was settled by a compromise in which objecting pharmacists 
wouldn't have to participate in filling the prescription [pending 
outcome of the trial]. In such cases, a pharmacy employee would contact 
a pharmacist at another location, then follow his or her directions for 
dispensing the morning-after [abortion] pill.

That rule needs approval from the legislative Joint Committee on 
Administrative Rules, which could decide next month, said Sue Hofer, 
spokeswoman for the state Department of Financial and Professional 
Regulation.

Rienzi said approval of that rule would help individual pharmacists, who 
could opt out. But he said that the rule would require all pharmacies to 
stock the drug  and that his clients are pharmacy owners who don't want 
the drug in their stores at all.


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**** 

** Humanlife.net Newsletter**

Human Life of Washington <http://www.humanlife.net>

*WHAT THE MEDIA WON'T TELL YOU ABOUT PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WESTERN 
WASHINGTON (PPWW)** *

by Jonathan B & Mary E, our good friends at Abortion in Washington 
Blogspot <http://abortionstate.blogspot.com/>

Giving new meaning to the word brazen, Planned Parenthood has spent the 
most recent legislative session lobbying for even more money for the 
state's largest chain of abortion centers 
<http://www.plannedparenthood.org/westernwashington/legislative-news-winter-08.htm>.

It's not enough that Planned Parenthood affiliates across Washington 
already receive close to $15 million from state and federal tax moneys. 
Nor is it enough that Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW) 
makes a profit of $9 million in contraceptive sales each year. And lets 
ignore the fact that all Washington Planned Parenthood branches have 
seen their revenues soar and coffers swell in recent years under the 
states Take Charge program 
<http://abortionstate.blogspot.com/2007/12/planned-parenthood-of-western.html>. 
(In 2002 Planned Parenthood of Western Washington was listed as the 
fourth richest Planned Parenthood in the entire nation 
<http://www.all.org/stopp/04afbyin.htm>.)

Now they want another $8 million for their so-called "family planning" 
programs. Anyone with the eyes to see knows these programs are nothing 
more than gateway services to PP's higher priced abortion services where 
they can really make a killing.

As first reported here, PPWW has been growing its abortion business by 
11% a year 
<http://abortionstate.blogspot.com/2007/02/planned-parenthoods-riches.html>, 
at the same time as reaching new records in revenues, size, and clients 
reached with their prevention programs. These programs also appear to 
target the flood of immigrants who are coming to our state looking for 
work. Many of them are alone, unable to speak English and especially 
vulnerable to exploitation from organizations like Planned Parenthood.

When we asked PPWW spokesman Brian Cutler to produce a study showing a 
correlation with their programs and activities in this state and a 
reduction in teen pregnancy rates and/or abortion rates, he was unable 
to do so.

I guess Christine Charbonneaus quarter million dollar a year salary 
just isn't enough to get by on in high priced Seattle. (She is the sixth 
highest paid CEO of a non-profit in the Seattle area 
<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/287959_nonprofits09.html?source=mypi>.)

They've also decided that pimping out Washington teens to pester elected 
officials like John Ahern (R-Spokane) for the $8 million is a good use 
of class time 
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004266472_ethics07m.html>. 
In a pot calling the kettle black story, Wesley Wilhelm, the parent of 
one of the teens accused Rep. Ahern of being "abusive" and asked that 
Ahern be investigated and punished for a "complete lack of human 
decency." I hate to break the bad news to Mr. Wilhelm but...

Representative Ahern asks a good question we wish these "civic-minded" 
teens would try to get the answer to because Planned Parenthood of the 
Inland Northwest (PPINW) doesn't seem to want to tell anyone: How many 
unborn babies has PPINW aborted anyway? We have asked them this question 
ourselves and will let you know if an answer is forthcoming.

*_PPWW Refuses to Adopt Minimum Ethical Standards_*

If you are a 12-year-old victim of incest, and you get pregnant, and 
your abusive older brother takes you to a Planned Parenthood of Western 
Washington (PPWW) abortion clinic, will PPWW report the crime to the 
authorities?

If you find yourself in a crisis pregnancy and go to PPWW to discuss 
your options, will they let you listen to the babys heartbeat, and 
offer you a free ultrasound of your baby to help you in your 
decision-making, like many pregnancy resource clinics do?

These are some of questions we recently asked of PPWWs spokesman Brian 
Cutler.

In an effort to find common ground, and to discover if there exists any 
sort of minimum ethical floor below which this organization wont fall, 
we proposed a set of challenges to Mr. Cutler, policies that PPWW could 
adopt now demonstrate to its critics that it isnt out a) to do as many 
abortions as possible, or b) to make as much money as possible.

Moreover, as a recipient of an almost $3 million health care contract 
from DSHS annually, being a health care partner of the state, and 
beneficiary of millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements, PPWW 
should have a high bar for patient care.

*Here are some of our proposals:*

1. Provide color fetal development pictures on the PPWW website in the 
Abortion Information section.

2. Offer all abortion clients a view of the ultrasound of their unborn 
baby, with the baby's major identifiable anatomical parts pointed out, 
and offer to let them hear their baby's heartbeat, before making any 
decision about having an abortion, to ensure that these women know 
exactly what is being removed from their womb.

3. Commit to a policy whereby at least 1 parent of a minor planning to 
have an abortion will be notified beforehand unless the minor attests 
that doing so will put her in genuine danger.

4. Wait three days between the first appointment and scheduling an 
abortion. In most states, when you get a mortgage, buy a used car, or 
even just get a high end vacuum cleaner, you have three days by law to 
change your mind. Is this because "you cant be trusted to make a 
decision"? No, it's recognition that consumers can easily be pressured 
into doing something they don't really want to do in hindsight. Clearly 
abortion is a bigger decision than buying a Kirby. The only reason to 
rush is to make sure the client doesnt have time to reflect.

5. Require that abortion clients be informed of pregnancy resource 
clinics and other resources to support them if they choose to continue 
their pregnancy.

How many of these proposals did Mr. Cutler agree to?

*Not a single one.*

Mr. Cutlers response to voluntarily notifying a parent that their minor 
daughter was possibly the victim of a sexual predator, coercion, let 
alone about to undergo life-altering surgery was the standard PP spiel 
about parental notification legislation: most of our minor patients 
inform and even include their parentsa minor is not required by law to 
notify her parents  what if the patients father is the one responsible 
for the pregnancy?

We pointed out that notifying an incestuous father would be absurd 
because PPWW is required by law to notify the police in such a case. Mr. 
Cutler said nothing to this. In fact, Planned Parenthood clinics have 
come under heavy fire  though oddly enough no criminal charges  for 
doing abortions on girls known to be victims of incest without notifying 
authorities, only to return the child to the incestuous situation. 
Similarly with underage girls who are victims of statutory rape. We 
asked to see copies of training documents which show that PPWW employees 
are required to notify police when they encounter girls who are victims 
of such crimes. Mr. Cutler offered none. We asked how many times in the 
previous years PPWW had reported such cases to police. Mr. Cutler 
refused to give any number.

In the end, we offered that PPWW could craft its own policy just as some 
sort of bare minimum guarantee that all things being equal, PPWW would 
notify at least one parent if a minor was seeking an abortion with no 
good reason why a parent shouldnt be involved.

Mr. Cutler rejected even this absurdly modest proposal, citing a 
difference in values.

*Nothing To Hide?*

Regarding the question of providing ultrasounds and foetal dopplers so 
pregnant clients can see their baby and hear their babys heartbeat, the 
ultimate in medically and scientifically accurate information, Mr. 
Cutler simply said: We use UltraSound to determine the gestational age 
of the fetus. Any patient can view the UltraSound if she wishes. We 
certainly don't hide anything from our patients. He didnt provide any 
explanation of the rejection of adding text book graphics of foetal 
development on their website.

Moreover, when challenged on the claim that PPWW doesnt hide anything 
from its patients, Mr. Cutler refused to answer any more questions, 
including:

How do you explain that we have interviewed women who went to PPWW 
clinics, were pregnant, and were explicitly told that they could not see 
the ultrasound until after they had agreed to an abortion and paid their 
money?

How do you explain that local pregnancy centers report that their 
clients who have been to PPWW clinics say the same thing?


How do you explain that we have interviewed women who had abortions at 
local PPWW clinics and were never shown fetal development pictures, but 
were instead told that the abortion simply involved the removal of 
'pregnancy tissue'? This includes one woman, who prefers to remain 
anonymous, who after four abortions later got pregnant with a baby she 
wanted. Only then was she given (by her OB) pictures of what her unborn 
baby looked like. She was devastated. Had she been given these pictures 
in her previous pregnancies, one of which was ended at a local PPWW 
clinic, she related between tears, she wouldn't have chosen abortion.

Local pregnancy clinics, such as Life Choices of King County, have 
doctors who provide free ultrasounds to their patients. These types of 
clinics report that as many as 96% of abortion-minded women choose to 
keep their babies afterwards. What percentage does PPWW report?

Are ultrasound and fetal doppler machines, along with appropriately 
trained technicians, available in all PP clinics (which would be 
expensive), or just certain locations? The clinic detail on the website 
does not indicate the answer to this question.

Can you provide official training documents for counsellors in which 
they are instructed to offer pregnant women ultrasounds and to listen to 
their baby's heartbeat?

These should be straightforward questions to answer. All Mr. Cutler 
would say was that he didnt want to go round and round on them.

Regarding providing encouraging and detailed information on non-abortion 
options, Mr. Cutler simply said: All options are open to a woman from 
the moment she walks through the door at a Planned Parenthood health 
center, an essentially meaningless statement. We have information in 
brochure form, he added weakly, about adoption, carrying a pregnancy 
to term, where they can take pre-natal classes, and much more, though 
he did not say anything about how counselors present this information if 
at all, or if these brochures are clearly displayed, or even up to date.

He did admit, however, that we do not refer patients to crisis 
pregnancy centers. To justify this policy he referred to studies from 
pro-abortion sources like Rep. Henry Waxman of California claiming 
that CPCs disseminate medically misleading information.

On the question of providing women a three day period prior to 
scheduling an abortion, Mr. Cutler was completely silent.






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