Name Pharmacists Life | ||
Balancing Conscientious Objection and Pharmacists' Ethics
Pharmacists for Life International (PFLI) is an international pro-life organization advocating the rights of pharmacists who refuse to fill or dispense prescriptions for artificial, hormonal, or emergency contraception to "protect the rights of employees who hold religious beliefs". PFLI holds that no "employee should be forced to choose between their livelihood and their conscience". At least six states have such conscience clauses for personnel in medical-related fields.
PFLI President Karen Brauer (MS, RPh) was fired in 1996 from a Kmart in Hamilton, Ohio. According to Brauer, a Roman Catholicshe was fired when she refused to sign an agreement that she would dispense all lawfully prescribed medications regardless of her feelings or beliefs. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) represented Brauer and filed suit against Kmart in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati in August 1999. In January 2001, the court refused to dismiss the suit at Kmart's request and ruled that Brauer's case could go forward under Ohio's conscience law. On April 16, 2001 in an appearance on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Brauer acknowledged that she did not directly decline or refuse to fill the prescription but, rather, lied to the customer by saying the pharmacy was out of stock of the contraceptive in question (Micronor), which Brauer holds is designed to "terminate a human life that has already begun". When the customer learned the truth she complained to the store's management, which led to the incident which in turn resulted in Brauer's lawsuit.