Prescription for disaster

A recent press release on the Pro-Life Wisconsin website trumpets a call to action that our state would be better off ignoring.

The release states, "The four pharmacists in Illinois who recently lost their jobs at Walgreens when they conscientiously objected to providing the abortifacient morning-after pill illustrate Wisconsin’s urgent need for meaningful protections of pharmacists in our own state. "

It also includes a ridiculous quote from Ms. Hamill - “No one knows better how these drugs work to cause abortions than the pharmacists who are trained to safely dispense pharmaceuticals.”

Really, because I think if they believe that these pills cause abortions, it means they failed biology class.

Pro-Life Wisconsin wants SB 155 made the law of the land. Under this bill, a licensed pharmacist would be allowed to not do their job. They would be allowed to refuse to dispense a prescribed drug or device if the pharmacist believes the drug or device will be used for causing an abortion or causing the death of any person, such as through assisted suicide or euthanasia. Not if it is a fact, if they believe that that is what the drug does.

Now while the pro-lifers think this will only affect people that they don't know, they should really stop to look at the religious right movement in the last few years and realize that letting individual pharmacists decide whether or not they will fill your prescription is a very dangerous idea.

The religious right has been issuing boycotts of companies a lot lately. They do it if they don't like the charitable giving the company is doing, if they don't use the word Christmas enough in ads and if Fox News needs something to fill air space. It won't be long before religious pharmacists decide that every time they don't agree with a company, they won't fill a prescription. Because that's what will happen when you give pharmacists this kind of control.

So what happens when the religious right decides they don't like the company that makes your high blood pressure medication? Or your child's diabetes medication? Or they decide that the pain medication for your spouse after a car accident is too much and might be being used for assisted suicide?

Remember, they believe it so it must be true.