Pope: Don't Dispense Drugs For Immoral Use

Urges Catholic Pharmacists To Refuse Prescriptions Used For Abortion, Euthanasia

(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.

[marcodele]

Since when do we allow pharmacists to dictate morality?

[bm6005]

In the short term view all religions love to increase their membership base. In the long term all religions are f*kng themselves out of a place at the table. Future wars will be increasingly fought over food and good water.

[l8c6]

The church seems more and more a bunch of BS. Is it immoral as some corporations do in the world to buy water rights and then charge poor people huge sums of money for clean potable water? Where are the clergy that don''t get shot at in places like El Salvador by Reagan funded governments that have anything to say about these gross injustices?

Some priorities the right wing hypocrite fascists around the world have for humanity. A hoe is a hoe, ya know, ya know.

[terrapin78]

Boycott any Pharmacy that does not fill all legal prescriptions.

My father owned a family pharmacy. He would not allow his Pharmacists to decide which Rx''s to fill. All were filled!

[papabc]

Good for the Pope...

[audubon1946]

Once more I find myself in disagreement with both the Pope and US law. Pharmacists are in the business of fulfilling doctor written prescriptions. They should leave their religious at the door as they walk through it each day to begin their work. They are neither judges nor clerics.

[grammawhamma]

Catholic pharmacists should not take a job at a pharmacy that sells birth control if they are not willing to fill the prescrptions. They can get a job in the pharmacy of a Catholic hospital and never have to be forced to go against their pope.

[marcodele]

How do they know when they dispense Viagra or Cialis whether it is going to be used morally or immorally?
What if that Viagra is so someone can molest their niece?

Let''s get real. Pharmacists should do the job they are paid to do. If they have moral problems with certain prescriptions, then they''re in the wrong business.

[gkc99]

Aren''t there any Catholics who have personal moral conscientious objections to blindly following this Hitler youth?

Oh wait--they''re called Protestants!

[mellie1957]

Yea - the Catholics (and the POPE included) don''t even understand the definition of morality ! They hide behind their cloaks while their priests molest young boys & girls. By ignoring it, they are condoning it.

[scottyusa]

Well I think the Pope is nuts. This is easy. If you are catholic don''t be a pharmacist. The church has no right to dictate its beliefs on non catholics. That is what is immoral. The idiocy gets worse too. No protection from pregnancy other then abstention. *** is only for the married and only for the purpose of procreation. Get real Pope and bring the church into the 21st century.

[typegirl-2009]

If religious organizations, whether catholic, christian, islamic or any other, want to start getting involved in govenmental or policital outcomes in this country, at that point, their separation of church and state ends, and they should be treated like any other private business or private citizen, and be taxed to the max.

[susanhelit]

The doctors decide what prescriptions a person needs, not some pharmacist on a power trip. If you can''t handle that, don''t become a pharmacist.

Next thing you know, they''ll refuse to fill prescriptions for Viagra, and no Prozac if you go to a pharmacy where the pharmacist is a scientologist, and no medicines made with an non-kosher methods if your pharmacist is Jewish or Muslim, and so on and so forth.

[missingamerica]

Who runs America? Us, or the Pope?

[psk123-2009]

Doctors and pharmacists should find a different occupation if they cannot write or fill any prescription that concerns the reproductive area in any way shape or form. I neither need nor want someone else taking their personal or religious moral judgments out on me.

Religions should stick to Sunday services, mind their own lives, and stay out of everyone else%u2019s pants.

Going one better, priests should also stick to keeping their own pants on and leave little kids alone. Silence is acceptance, acceptance is condoning. They have a vow of celibacy, playing with the under-aged, whether same gender or opposite is not a valid exception to that rule.

[andor3]

A pharmacy and all pharmacists have a duty to fill all prescriptions written by a doctor and presented by a patient. What medicine a person takes is between the doctor and the patient. Not between the pope and the pharmacist.

I would never go to a pharmacy where any employee exercised moral judgment to refuse to fill a prescription whether for me or anyone. If a pharmacist has moral qualms about his/her profession then there are other jobs.

Just more evidence of the madness and ignorance perpetuated by religion anf those who believe.

[obiwan234]

Someone need to tell the Poope to shut up and butt out of things which do not concern him. Maybe if he spent some time working on sexually obsessed Catholic Priests and stop covering up the ruination of young boys by his pedifile priests & employees, then we might have some interest in what he says. He''s just a talking head as far as I''m concerned and as relevant is the void in the Catholic Church of real leadership and Godliness.

[barbaraf4]

Apparently it is acceptable behavior to molest young boys, but it is unacceptable to fill legally prescribed medications.

[grammawhamma]

I was raised in this cult of a religion...thank God I saw the light and escaped from it.

[nlm2383]

As much as I absolutely and completely disagree with abortion, I think no one really has a right to tell anyone what they should and/or should not do with their body just because of that persons religious beliefs. That''s what pisses me off about religion. Also, the 72 hour pill is in no way used for abortion. How can they even compare the two? Theres no guarantee you WILL get pregnant if you have unprotected *** if you don''t use the 72 hour pill. This is just ridiculous.

[andor3]

Why is no one talking about doctors who write these prescriptions? Would the pope try to dictate medicine to doctors? Should doctors and pharmacists be required to disclose any religious views that would influence their ability to do their jobs?

[kansas1946]

Well, unless you are a Catholic, why would anyone care what the Pope says? I just view him as a nice old man, but whatever he thinks or says doesn''t affect my life or my decision making. So why does the news make such a big deal out of everything he says? This is a Catholic thing.

[oldsoftee]

Egg Benedict!!!!

[cs4466]

The fact that anyone at all listens to or takes stock in what this thug says is an extremely sad testament to the state of the world. It is only the presence of the organized religions of the world that leads me to believe that true evil exists. Not that they proclaim the dangers of it, but that they become it themselves. At the center of each lies a core of hatred so dire and tangible one cannot help but shudder and wonder - "why?".

[asor1-2009]

Why is some dizzy thing this man says ''news worthy''? The Catholic Church is about troubled men, by insipid men and for boy-loving men. Pi55 off Benny.

[godofredo29]

And, this just in from the late John Paul II: Don''t use catheters on old men! Inevitably the result will be prostatitis, which is what ultimately killed me because of my weakened immune system. I am sending a pox on all the urologist''s houses!

[sevenveils]

Pharmacists job is to fill the prescriptions written by DOCTORS. A pharmacist that fails to do this over rides the authority and intent of a person of the highest authority of medicine and deserves to be immediately dismissed for failure to perform their simple job.

[oldsoftee]

To all those questioning why this is newsworthy; Roman Catholics comprise about 1 billion persons worldwide. That`s why.

[jncc1701]

Immoral uses? does this include Viagra.

and can someone explain all the Catholic fascination with ***?

[ringading3]

America is more concerned with pit bulls being killed, than babies being sliced and diced. We get by our moral qualms by calling them "embroys" and this makes it OK to kill babies in the womb. When China put stuff in dog and cat food that killed our pets, huge out cry! Since the liberals and Hollywood said abortion is ok, then there is no cry, except for the innocents.

[ringading3]

Reminds me of John the Baptist, a voice crying out in the wilderness! Only religion I know of who is trying to remind us of the sacredness of human life. All the rest have caved to "liberal thought". God help us all.

[grammawhamma]

Well, unless you are a Catholic, why would anyone care what the Pope says? I just view him as a nice old man, but whatever he thinks or says doesn''''t affect my life or my decision making. So why does the news make such a big deal out of everything he says? This is a Catholic thing.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by kansas1946 at 06:34 PM : Oct 29, 2007

Of course what the pope throws out can affect your life regardless if you are catholic or not. For example: Scenario is that you live in a very small town and the only hospital you have access to is a Catholic hosptial. You get terminal cancer. One day the pope decides that morphine and all pain killers need to be with held from terminally ill cancer patients because it might hasten their death. Your choices now are to die a painful death or move your pain wracked dying body to another town that has a non catholic hospital.

[cbs_oliver]

To reframe an old joke: If US soldiers were dropping condums on the Iraqis rather than 2000 pound bombs then the pope would be at the forefront of those opposing the war.

Isn''t too bad that joke is still as good today as it was 40 some years ago.

And they could have told the joke during the holocaust and the second world war too.

[ixoye_02]

The pope isn''t a doctor or a pharmacist. Prescription drugs should be dispensed according to the law...this involves the doctor, the patient, and the pharmacist dispensing the drug according to doctor''s prescription....not the pope. If a catholic pharmacist finds that he/she has to make dispense drugs that are contrary to the pope''s teaching, then he/she ought to find another profession. God gave every human free will to choose. The church is there to advise on moral issues but it is ultimately up to the individual to make a decision on what to do.

[feelfree1]

Why does this Satan-worshipper keep opening his mouth?

[kansas1946]

Your choices now are to die a painful death or move your pain wracked dying body to another town that has a non catholic hospital. Posted by GrammaWhamma
***********************
Or, a 38 caliber upside my head. Pope or no Pope!
Just kidding, gramma, sort of. I was really talking about the media attention to every time the Pope says something. I could see that in the Catholic Register, or the Catholic Gazette. But I am not sure why CBS, or MSNBC, goes on about it.

[kansas1946]

America is more concerned with pit bulls being killed, than babies being sliced and diced
**************************************
Acutally, just the oppposit is true in this context. We are fighting everyday to improve birth control, try to convince young people to use it, developing things like the "morning after" pill that prevents conception, and drugs like RU486 that can be used very early in the process so babies don''t get "sliced and diced." as you put it.
Of course, we have to fight every inch of the way for those things because this really isn''t about abortion, it is about control of our sexuality.

[alanrobisch]

btw He did oppose the Iraqi war

[alanrobisch]

If a catholic pharmacist finds that he/she has to make dispense drugs that are contrary to the pope''''s teaching, then he/she ought to find another profession. God gave every human free will to choose. The church is there to advise on moral issues but it is ultimately up to the individual to make a decision on what to do.


Posted by ixoye_02 at 07:10 PM : Oct 29, 2007

You mean that a person who had to leave work prior to work on friday before sun down as Orthodox Jews do or work on Saturday should be forced into fields that don''t have working hours. My hero Sandy Koufax a Jew refused to pitch on Yom Kippur a high holy. He gained respect for that not attacks as religious belief and observance gains now.

[amk2107]

What a freakin j-o-k-e......

[michellem99-2009]

Gramma,amen..I am catholic..a modren one if there is such a term.Give gramma her meds...we have sep of chursh and state..No one will tell me what meds I need for my health..It is my body..Why did he kick 6 sisters out but let the the fathers hurt children,,I don''t go to church..

[rafterman1]

It is the responsibility of pharmacists to dispense drugs according to what the pertinent agencies have indicated to be legal. It is not the responsibility of pharmacists to sermonize or dispense morality. If some pharmacists want to sermonize, then they should get a new line of work.

[trenticus-2009]

What no more roofies???????

[bobgee_1999]

Great, throwbacks to the 17th century dispensing modern drugs; this is like a militant vegetarian working at KFC, or an Amish auto mechanic. How about getting a job you''re suited to, ********?

[grammawhamma]

Michelle: You say you are catholic...but you say you don''t practice what they preach and you don''t attend church weekly which are both against the catholic rules. Now don''t get me wrong (in my opinion...three cheers for you to make up your own mind). But my question to you is why do you still say you are catholic? Is it because you were born to a catholic family and baptized catholic? If so...and you don''t like the catholic religion...break away from it and leave the catholic guilt behind. I felt so much better about my life once I did this. But that was me...I''m not preaching...make up your own mind of course.

Yikes...I can just feel the comments I''ll get from some catholics about this post. Whatever.....

[formrusmcsgt]

Where does this pompus a$$ get off telling Catholics not to obey the law of the land?

No wonder this religion is dying, eh?

Anyone who listens to this fruitcake deserves to lose their pharmacist''s license.

Then we will only have pharmacists who will obey the law rather than try to enforce their own views on the general public.

[rick_vt]

This is the same Pope that brought Cardinal Bernard Law from Massachusetts to Rome and gave him an important role there. Cardinal Bernard Law protected numerous pedophile priests, hid them and deliberately covered their crimes, obstructing justice. Cardinal Bernard Law should be in jail, not living well in Rome and now this pope is an accessory to the crimes in America against children committed by the priests Cardinal Bernard Law protected.

[blazercoach1]

When all bookstores are forced to sell Bibles as well as porn, when all sporting goods are stores are required to sell fire-arms, and when all car salesmen are required to sell hybrids as well as the worst gas guzzling cars on the market.........then you can argue that PRIVATELY owned pharmacists be required to fill any prescription.

Do any of you recognize a bookstore or car dealership owners right to sell what they WANT to sell? Do you consider it a denial of 1st Amendment rights if a book dealer doesn''t sell a book that gives a certain viewpoint? Do you believe that a sporting good''s salesman that doesn''t sell guns is denying a person their right to bear arms?

If not, you are not being consistent if you argue that a pharmacist choosing not to fill a prescription is denying anyone a so-called right.

If I want a certain book, I''ll find a bookstore that sells it. If I want a gun, I''ll find a store that sells it. If I want a hybrid car or a gas guzzler, I''ll find a dealership that sells them. If you want certain medicine........FIND A PHARMACY THAT SELLS IT!

Enjoy the free-market, folks!

[rafterman1]

===You mean that a person who had to leave work prior to work on friday before sun down as Orthodox Jews do or work on Saturday should be forced into fields that don''''t have working hours. My hero Sandy Koufax a Jew refused to pitch on Yom Kippur a high holy. He gained respect for that not attacks as religious belief and observance gains now.===
posted by alanrobisch2

There is a difference between an office worker or even a baseball player vs. someone who is responsible for affecting the health of a person. If an office worker misses a day of work, it''s not the end of the world. But if a pharmacist or a doctor does not strictly follow the rules of medicine and lets faith dictate the way they do their job, lives could be harmed or even lost.

[brianbwb-2009]

So Joey the Ratz ("ours is the one true church") Ratzenberger, scion of a Nazi officer, presumes the right to dictate morality? His inanity has already exposed the "Papal infallibility" concept as a false assumption (as if any human could be infallible), and threatens to marginalize the organization, already rife with corruption, and persuade many to leave.

Sad, because millions who take comfort in the concept of religion will lose their spiritual "sanctuary".