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New Trend of Pro-Life Pharmacies Responds to Incursions on Pharmacists' Consciences

By Tim Waggoner

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A recent trend involving pro-life pharmacies opening up across the U.S. has sparked a debate about the relationship between employees' consciences and patients' rights.

Pro-life pharmacies have surfaced in response to the growing amount of abuse received by pharmacists who have refused to fill prescriptions for life-stopping medication or products, such as contraception and condoms, because doing so would conflict with their consciences.

As reported by the Washington Post, Karen Bauer, president of Pharmacies for Life, stated that these pharmacies allow 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."

Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel at the Thomas More Society, is representing a pharmacist who was fined for refusing to fulfill a patient's request for contraception.

"The United States was founded on the idea that people act on their conscience - that they have a sense of right and wrong and do what they think is right and moral…Every pharmacist has the right to do the same thing," Brejcha said.

Critics or pro-life pharmacies believe that these pharmacists have a duty to provide "medical care" to all patients and are acting in a discriminatory way.

Yet, according to the Washington Post, advocates of pro-life pharmacies also point to the right of employees to express their opinions in a pluralistic society and preach of the dangers of contraceptives.

"In general, I think product differentiation expressive of differing values is a very good thing for a free, pluralistic society," said Loren E. Lomasky, a bioethicist at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "If we can have 20 different brands of toothpaste, why not a few different conceptions of how pharmacies ought to operate?"

"We try to practice pharmacy in a way that we feel is best to help our community and promote healthy lifestyles," said Lloyd Duplantis, owner of Lloyd's Remedies in Gray, LA. "After researching the science behind steroidal contraceptives, I decided they could hurt the woman and possibly hurt her unborn child. I decided to opt out."

Currently, California, New Jersey, Illinois and Washington State require pharmacies to fulfill all prescription requests or to at least point a patient in a direction where their "needs" can be met. Numerous other states are in debate on whether or not to follow suit.

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