7 April 2005 - 2:24pm
"The culture of life" means pregnancy is "punishment"
Yes, that's right. According to Karen L. Brauer, President of "Pharmacists for Life," pregnancy is the woman's just desserts for having sex. That's why Brauer opposes pharmacists' filling birth control prescriptions -- that just takes the penalty out of it.
It's really quite ridiculous how they talk about "conscience" when they refuse to fill birth control prescriptions. Conscience about what, exactly?
Is preventing pregnancy evil? Apparently so, according to Brauer.
Riffle has dug up some gems of quotes by Ms. Bauer. This one is my favorite:
For all the NOW gal types who might be lurking.... See what the
Domestic Farm Animal style Birth Control has gotten you? When you get
pregnant, you did it to yourself. The man does not participate. It's
not his fault. That little head works by remote control, and is totally
disconnected from the big head. It's just a whackoff.
It sounds to me like maybe she's been dabbling in some medications herself. (More on Karen L. Bauer and her agenda can be found here.)
Fred Vincy points to a comment in Erin's post by Carolyn:
I can't help but wonder if pharmacists with strong religious beliefs refuse to fill other types of prescriptions as well as BC. Accutane (a popular and very strong acne drug) causes birth defects. Or how about pain killers? Morphine comes to mind, considering that in high doses it can be lethal. Do pharmacists who disagree with euthanasia refuse to sell morphine? I wonder if this also has to do with gender and power. Are these pharmacists standing in the way of a woman's right to control her own body and fertility? Do they refuse to sell condoms too? How about women who are on the pill for medical reasons (and there are a lot of them)?
There doesn't seem to be any question.
If a doctor prescribes, a pharmacist should fill the prescription. Fill it, or find another line of work.
Let's look at it another way. Let's say Pharmacist Jane Q. Public hates the patriarchy esconced and codified in the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. As a matter of "conscience," she finds such people immoral.
Would she be in her rights to refuse to fill their prescriptions "as a matter of conscience"?
What if she were a cop? Would she be in her rights to let armed robbers get away with robbing a parish? If she were a firefighter, would she be in her rights to let the cathedral burn down?
Okay, so be it. Pharmacists are now the last line of "conscience" for prescriptions in medical care. Does that mean that if a prescription they give a woman causes, say a birth defect or a stroke or cancer, she can go and sue the pharmacist?
Without medical degrees, pharmacists have no business meddling in my medical care. Without powers of attorney, they have no business meddling in my private life. This is America, not Communist China. We have this thing called freedom. If you don't like it, quite your job or move away.
Similar entries
- Target defends policy allowing pharmacists to play doctor while posing as priests
- Pharmacists' refusals to fill prescriptions: Who's the next Target?
- Georgia legislature says pharmacists must fill all prescriptions ... for Viagra
- Does your pharmacist play doctor? (Or priest?)
- ACLU report on accessing birth control at the pharmacy
store
Buy stuff here.





















Comments
This act of moralistic self-righteousness is truly unconstitutional and the courts should rule as such. A pharmacist is there to fill prescriptions, not preach their belief system.
...whether what they do is unconstitutional or not. They see the Constitution as a problem. They want to pervert it into their own twisted theocratic doctrine. They want to overthrow the government they control.
Go figure.
That's the best debunking of the "conscience" argument against filling prescriptions that I've read. Keep up the good work!
to rope your guy in. As Brauer says a bit further along, "NOW gals, ya got what you wanted. Total autonomy. So don't ask some of these guys for child support. Thanks for screwing things up for women who want their kids to have a daddy."
So we get to the heart of the issue. Not only does pregnancy punish the bad, bad girls but ropes them a husband. I honestly think that this is one thing that these anti-abortionists/anti-contraception nuts are terrified of: if they have a choice to prevent or terminate pregnancy, they can't nab a man by "accidently" getting pregnant. Apparently, somehow, giving women a choice absolves men of any responsibility for their own choices. Interesting...