I believe in Free Will. I believe people should have the right to choose not to perform acts that go against their conscience. I do not believe people have the right to force their choices on others.
I have turned down projects that I considered unethical. I believe, for the most part, that doctors should have the right to choose what procedures they will perform and that pharmacists should have the right to judge whether or not to service a prescription. My exception to this belief is in situations where the individual has a monopoly on a specific service. If there is only one doctor or pharmacy available to a community, than they should be able not use their position of power to force people to live out their fantasy of what is moral. Each person on this planet bears the sole responsibility for themselves, and their moral compass; and with that responsibility comes authority, but that also only applies to themselves. If someone feels the need, or that they have the right, to play god then they are not suited for their position and should have their license to practice revoked.
The article referenced below began by talking about a pharmacy in Virginia that has opened with a unique inventory selection: “No candy. No sodas. And no birth control.” I don’t have the slightest problem with that. It’s their business, and in a free market capitalistic society, they will draw some customers and chase some away.
What bothered me was a little further down in the article. Apparently there is a pharmacist in Wisconsin whose conscience forbid them from fulfilling a prescription for birth control, and then their god complex kicked in and they refused to transfer the prescription to another drug store. To me, that is holding the health and life of a patient hostage to personal morality. Arrogant bastard.
Va. pharmacy follows faith, no birth control sales
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Earlier this year in Wisconsin, a state appeals court upheld sanctions against a pharmacist who refused to dispense birth control pills to a woman and wouldn't transfer her prescription elsewhere. Elsewhere, at least seven states require pharmacies or pharmacists to fill contraceptive prescriptions, according to the National Women's Law Center. Four states explicitly give pharmacists the right to turn away any prescriptions, the group said.
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