Washington, D.C. (17 June 2008) – The American Medical Association attacked pharmacists' right to refuse to dispense contraceptives, including those which may cause abortion, at its June 11-14 Board of Trustees' annual meeting.
The AMA's Board of Trustees told members that:
AMA supports legislation that would require individual pharmacists and pharmacy chains to fill legally valid prescriptions or to provide immediate referral to an appropriate alternative dispensing pharmacy without interference.
It further stated the following:
A pharmacist's deliberate refusal to dispense a drug on religious, moral or ethical grounds, i.e., pharmacist conscientious objection, has been most often associated with Plan B, the emergency contraceptive, and has received considerable attention in both the lay media and in medical journal commentaries. Of all the reasons why a pharmacist might not dispense a legally valid prescription, conscientious objection is the only one that places a pharmacist's personal views in potential conflict with the best interests of the patient.
The Washington Post illustrated the issue with a story on the DMC Pharmacy scheduled to open in Chantilly, Virginia in August. The pharmacy, run by Pharmacists for Life member Robert Semler, will feature all the medicines normally found in a pharmacy with one exception. It won't be stocking contraceptives or abortifacients.
The Post reports that the policies of pharmacies such as DMC, "have left women traumatized and resulted in pharmacists being fired, fined or reprimanded."
"The pharmacy is one of a small but growing number of drugstores around the country that have become the latest front in a conflict pitting patients' rights against those of health-care workers who assert a 'right of conscience' to refuse to provide care or products that they find objectionable," the Post story says.
"The DMC Pharmacy has every right to refuse to aid in the destruction of human beings," said American Life League's president, Judie Brown. "The recent attacks on pharmacists who are committed to saving lives and not destroying them serves to illustrate the role the AMA and the mainstream media play in the culture of death."
"This is just the latest in a well-orchestrated series of attacks on the freedom of conscience of medical professionals," a press release issued by American Life League associate group Pharmacists for Life stated.
American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to death. For more information or press inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- Washington Post: Pro-Life Drugstores Market Beliefs (16 June 2008)
- Catholic News Agency: Pro-Life Pharmacies Opening Around the U.S. (17 June 2008)
- LifeNews.com: American Medical Association Attacking Pro-Life Pharmacists on Plan B Drug (13 June 2008)