Oct 29, 2007 9:25 pm US/Eastern
Pope: Don't Dispense Drugs For Immoral Use
VATICAN CITY (AP) ―
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Pope Benedict XVI tried to persuade Catholic pharmacists to not dispense drugs for immoral purposes on Oct. 29, 2007.
AP
Pope Benedict XVI urged Catholic pharmacists on Monday to use
conscientious objection to avoid dispensing drugs with "immoral
purposes such as, for example, abortion or euthanasia."
In a speech to participants at the 25th International Congress of
Catholic Pharmacists, Benedict said that conscientious objection was a
right that must be recognized by the pharmaceutical profession.
Such objector status, he said, would "enable them not to
collaborate directly or indirectly in supplying products that have
clearly immoral purposes such as, for example, abortion or euthanasia."
In his speech, the pope also said that pharmacists have an
educational role toward patients so that drugs are used in a morally
and ethically correct way.
"We cannot anesthetize consciences as regards, for example, the
effect of certain molecules that have the goal of preventing the
implantation of the embryo or shortening a person's life," he said.
Emergency contraception pills, which can be taken up to 72 hours
after unprotected sex, work by preventing ovulation or by preventing
the embryo from being implanted into the womb.
The pope said pharmacists should raise people's awareness so that
"all human beings are protected from conception to natural death, and
so that medicines truly play a therapeutic role."
The issue has been debated extensively in the United States.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich introduced the rule more than two
years ago requiring pharmacists to fill all prescriptions. Pharmacists
challenged the rule, and a legal settlement earlier this month allowed
pharmacists who object to dispensing emergency birth control to step
aside while someone else fills the prescription.
In Washington state, pharmacists have filed a federal lawsuit over
a regulation requiring them to sell emergency contraception, saying it
violates their civil rights by forcing them into choosing between
"their livelihoods and their deeply held religious and moral beliefs."
A few states in the U.S. have passed laws that specifically allow
pharmacists or pharmacies to refuse to provide health care due to
religious or moral objections, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a
reproductive rights think tank based in New York.
Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and South Dakota have legislation
that explicitly permits pharmacists to refuse to dispense
contraceptives, according to the Institute, and Florida, Illinois,
Maine and Tennessee have broadly worded legislation that may apply to
pharmacists.
In California, on the other hand, pharmacists are required to fill
all valid prescriptions and can only refuse with employer approval and
if the customer can still access the prescription in a timely manner.
In Britain, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has a code of ethics
allowing pharmacists who have religious objections to refuse dispensing
certain drugs, such as emergency contraception. But their objection
must be stated to their employer before they start working, and they
must refer patients to other pharmacists who can provide the requested
drugs.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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