Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
A pharmacist who believes life begins at conception has achieved a victory of sorts.
The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), which represented the pharmacist, reports that the investigation into whether she violated the law by refusing to prescribe drugs that could cause abortions “has been resolved in her favor.”
When a customer requested an oral contraceptive refill, the pharmacist told her (an adult? teenager?) she didn’t feel “comfortable” prescribing such drugs and someone else would refill the prescription in two days. She also told the customer how the drugs worked. The customer’s father called and “angrily questioned” the pharmacist. Naturally, he threatened further action. He contacted the Board of Pharmacy to complain about the pharmacist’s refusal to prescribe the drugs and for giving “false” information. An excerpt:
The pharmacist contacted the ACLJ after she received a notice stating that the Board of Pharmacy was initiating an investigation based on the complaint. We sent a letter to the Board asking that the case be closed and resolved in her favor “because her actions were fully consistent with Virginia law and regulations and, by the Complainant’s own admission, did not harm the Complainant’s daughter in any way.” Our letter cited numerous previous cases in which we have represented pharmacists, nurses, and other health care professionals who conscientiously object, on religious or moral grounds, to personally participating in or facilitating the use of certain procedures or drugs because they end a human life.
While the board didn’t emphatically side with the pharmacist, it determined that there was insufficient evidence to find that she violated government regulations. Case closed. For now.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
