Pharmacist's Model Conscience Clause

The rights of conscience of any person being a duly licensed pharmacist, who shall object on personal, ethical, moral or religious grounds to the performance of any act in the normal course of professional performance or dispensing, shall be respected.

Further, such a refusal to perform any act or the omission of any act based on such a claim of conscience, shall not form the basis for any claim for damages or any recriminatory or discriminatory action against such a person.

Any such person making such a claim of conscience, or who states a willingness or intention to make such a claim of conscience, shall not be denied employment, or discriminated against in any manner related to employment because of such a claim of conscience.

The Pharmacist's Model Conscience Clause was adopted and approved by the PFLI Board of Directors in 1988. It was the first -- and remains the only -- one of its kind for the profession of pharmacy. It uniquely addresses the needs of pharmacists for recognition of their sincerely held religious, moral and ethical convictions which preclude the misuse of the gift of medications in manners contrary to the God-given dignity of the profession. Nothing less will do.

Any attempt to dilute or weaken the Conscience Clause does a disservice to the profession as well as an injustice to the many pharmacists who have courageously fought to have the Conscience Clause implemented in their workplaces. For standing by their principles, many of these brave professionals have paid the price of ostracizement, calumny, vilification, persecution, reprimands, censure and dismissal.