by Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center
So the Pope believes that Catholic pharmacists have a duty to refuse to fill prescriptions for “immoral products” such as contraception. A contraceptive drug or device is an inanimate object, so it cannot be immoral. Clearly the pope believes that women and men who use contraception are immoral.
I’d like to offer a different perspective. The decision to use contraception to prevent an unintended pregnancy is a moral decision. While every one of the millions of women who use contraception has her own reasons for doing so, the most common reasons are based on women’s own moral choices.
- Some women have decided that their family only has the resources to feed, clothe, house and educate how ever many children they have.
- Others are delaying childbearing until they meet their goals in terms of their job, education, finances or marital status.
- Some women would rather not subject children to a known genetic disease or disorder.
- And maybe some women are waiting until this country improves support for working families (see Bush’s SCHIP veto or the limited assistance for childcare) before having a child.
These women might view the decision to not use contraception as immoral.
Perhaps if some pharmacists find the duties of their profession clashing with their beliefs on a daily basis (and they would if they rejected every prescription for contraceptives) they should follow the advice of the American Pharmacists Association. The APhA tells pharmacists to consider whether they will be faced with moral and ethical conflicts when selecting a practice setting, and to choose accordingly. We hope pharmacists will listen to their fellow professionals, and not the Pope. If you are refused, please contact us.
ETA: Salon has some interesting commentary on this.
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