The military is a killing profession, the police are a coercive profession. Medicine and it’s ancillaries are not killing professions, although it’s technology can and sometimes is used for that purpose. Adherence to the millenia old ethics in this regard is the one area where medical professionals are and should be above the law of any state, and above the opinion of the majority.

There’s no killing involved with emergency contraception. There’s not even a pregnancy to terminate.

Doctors and pharmacists *know that.* We can pretend we don’t know that, but come *on,* it’s as simple as any other medication action. We have the education and the mandate to understand the medications we prescribe and dispense.

Considering emergency contraception in the same breath as killing demonstrates an unacceptable level of ignorance, and I can see why patients are losing respect for us and our treatment advice.

This decision is only common sense.

It is of course of value that pharmacists practice with a strong code of ethics, particularly one that favors life, a shared value in our society. However, physicians are now learning to practice with the patient’s prerogative as the first priority (except in emergency care, when it is necessary to first stabilize the patient’s condition); pharmacists should do the same.

Intensivists/ICU doctors may carry strong personal values and convictions to save lives at all costs, but they also must consider the values and desires of their patients: some may wish to die rather than potentially live with great disability, pain, and/or burden to their families. Medical technology can now keep people alive when they otherwise would die without significant life support – take locked-in syndrome as an example. Patients may not have the right to demand treatment, but they do have the right to have treatment withheld when they otherwise would die.

In this situation, one might contend that these women requesting the morning-after pill may not “have the right to demand this treatment.” However, the prescription was given by a physician who presumably discussed a range of options and the risks and benefits with the patient. This may not be the case, and the patient may be uninformed. However, if the pharmacist truly believes that he/she is acting in the interest of the patient and her potential child, he/she would do best by sitting down with the patient and having that same conversation regarding discussing the risks and benefits and other options. Otherwise, the pharmacist is no better than the intensivist who forces treatment on otherwise dying patients and berates them for wanting to die.

Note: I say this while harboring interests in training to be an intensivist. The fact is, one cannot practice ethically and morally by enforcing one’s values on another person.

Same here. When you decided to become a pharmacist you knew you may be asked to dispense birth control pills or plan B or whatever. You cannot choose a profession and then refuse to do your job.

Incidentally, there are plenty of reasons for these medications that don’t involve contraception or abortion as you probably know (or should know); are we women supposed to explain to you our medical conditions?

And you and I and those pharmacist who object chose how to live our lives, and for some pharmacists, that means dedicating themselves to role in healing, not killing, a decision that they have every right to make, the Board of Pharmacy ruling notwithstanding. Pharmacists who refuse to dispense to dispense abortificants are not taking away anyone elses liberty, only insisting on their own liberty to practice the simple and clear ethical imperative to not participate in a killing. The liberty of patients to do so in no way confers an obligation on anyone else, any physician, nurse, pharmacist, or anyone else, to assist them in doing so. I would agree that the pharmacist has no right to destroy the prescription–it is not his property, but he has no obligation to fill it or do anything to it other than return the piece of paper to the patient with whatever comments he care to make. The Board’s opinion to the contrary is plain morally wrong and should be disobeyed by those with an issue of conscience.

If as a pharmacist you think I made a mistake, call me and ask me why I made this particular choice. I will be thankful if you pick up an error, suggest a better choice, teach me about a new therapeutic option. Make your suggestions. I am always open to suggestions. I may or may not agree, but I will listen and will consider.

What more, the whole commotion is not about heart meds either. This debate would never be if it wasn’t for the morning after pill… Do you think? If for whatever reason you think morning after pill is Satan’s creation… I have a simple solution – Don’t take it! Let my patients make the decision if they want to have babies. At the end of the road they are the ones who chose to live their lives however they want to and I am the one who is responsible for my prescribing… It’s got nothing to do with pharmacists and they should stay out of it…

So YEY to the ruling!