[Pflienews] PharmFacts E-News Update:

Wed Oct 22 06:57:57 MDT 2008

*PharmFacts E-News Update -- 22 Oct 2008 AD

*

  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/21/pharmacy-caters-to-pro-life-customers/

  Washington Times

  Tuesday, October 21, 2008

  VA pharmacy caters to pro-life customers

  Julia Duin <http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/julia-duin/> (Contact
  <http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/julia-duin/contact>)

When Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy opens Tuesday in a Chantilly, VA 
shopping center, it will have on display a picture of St. John Leonardi, 
the 16th-century patron saint of pharmacists.

But there will be no birth-control pills, condoms, cigarettes or 
pornographic magazines. There will, however, be booklets on natural 
family planning.

DMC Pharmacy is one of the country's few "pro-life pharmacies" that 
refuse to dispense contraceptives on moral and health grounds, arguing 
that they cause abortions, lead to promiscuity or endanger a woman's 
health.

"Birth control is not health care," said Robert Laird, executive 
director of DMC, the Fairfax nonprofit that will own and operate the 
1,500-square-footstore at 13945 Metrotech Drive. "We are catering to a 
special niche of people who like the pro-life message in their business."

The store is within a mile of two large parishes serving about 20,000 
Catholics. Within five miles are four other booming parishes, bringing 
the total population of Catholic residents to about 50,000. The Catholic 
Shop, a bookstore next door to the pharmacy, already attracts plenty of 
customers.

"In the pharmacy business," Mr. Laird said, "you don't normally go more 
than two miles from your drugstore, but people are going to be coming 
from miles to come here."

If people want contraceptives, he said, there are two other stores in 
Sully Plaza that stock them. Robert Semler, the pharmacist in charge, 
will not direct people on where to find such stores.

"People can look it up [themselves]," Mr. Laird said.

DMC Pharmacy opens for business at 10 a.m. Tuesday with a blessing by 
Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde. Benefactors of the $350,000 project also 
will attend. A more elaborate grand opening is planned for December.

Catholic doctrine forbids the use of any kind of artificial birth 
control, and all DMC's board members are Catholic.

Stores like the DMC Pharmacy are on the cusp of a national debate over 
the rights of pro-life pharmacists versus a marketplace that seeks birth 
control.

*Virginia has no law mandating pharmacies to sell contraceptives, 
although nine states, including Massachusetts, California, New Jersey, 
Illinois and Washington, have enacted laws requiring pharmacists to 
either fill the prescription or direct the customer elsewhere. [PFLI 
note: IL is not an enacted law but was mandated by fiat of Guv 
'Slobodan' Blagojevich, under investigation for ties and corruption with 
convicted criminal Tony Rezko and Dem prez candidate Barrie Hussein 
Obama.]*

Karen Brauer, head of Pharmacists for Life International, said 
"thousands" of pharmacies nationwide do not stock the morning-after pill 
because it can be an abortifacient. Her Web site, www.pfli.org, lists 
six pharmacies that sell no artificial contraception of any sort.

She noted that pharmacies do not carry every drug and are not legally 
required to do so for most drugs.

"The birth-control pill has gained a social importance above a lot of 
other drugs that are more important to save lives," she said. "There is 
a bunch of drugs that women need that pharmacists don't carry. This is 
the only drug pharmacists are forced to order in. Other than antidotes, 
pharmacies are not required to stock anything."

NARAL Pro-Choice [sic] America did not return a call asking for comment 
on the pharmacy, but its Virginia affiliate has run an alert on its Web 
site, www.naralva.org, saying, "Birth control is basic health care for 
women." It urges a boycott of the DMC store, contending that "a pharmacy 
that doesn't respect your choices doesn't deserve your business."

One of the masterminds behind the project is Dr. John T. Bruchalski, 
founder of Tepeyac Family Center, an ob-gyn practice in Fairfax, and 
president and chairman of the board of DMC.

"It won't be just a Catholic pharmacy," he said. "It's trying to build a 
culture of life. We want to let the market decide if we are worthy of 
support and trust and not anyone's social agenda. I believe there are a 
significant number of people who have tolerated this slowly encroaching 
culture of brokenness. When given an option, they will actually choose 
something other."

------------------------------------------------------------------------
PFLI PharmAid Center

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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.
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