Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Conscience Clause and Idaho Revisited



Remember the case of a pharmacist who refused to prescribe methergine to a patient she believed to have had an abortion? Methergine is used to stop bleeding after abortion, miscarriage or giving birth. Uncontrolled bleeding under those circumstances could kill the woman.

Turns out that according to The Idaho Board of Pharmacy the pharmacist has broken no laws!

I sorta like the idea of a morality police force within the health care system. It can punish people for all behaviors it disapproves of! For note that if the bleeding indeed was caused by an abortion, the fetus was already aborted. Refusing to prescribe methergine just made it slightly more likely that the woman who was bleeding might die. This means that the pharmacist was playing god.

I don't know about you but this scares me. Alternatively, I might become a Christian Scientist, get a pharmacy degree and then refuse to fill any prescriptions whatsoever because prayer is the only acceptable treatment. Would the Idaho Board of Pharmacy stand behind me, I wonder?

Or is it just women who are expected to bear the brunt of other people's consciences?