The wall between Church and State needs to be restored. A pharmacy is NOT a church. (Click on)

As religious organizations committed to protecting women’s health, we are dissatisfied with the Food and Drug Administration’s continued tactics to delay approving the emergency contraceptive Plan B as an over-the-counter medication. We believe that the FDA has an obligation to make decisions that promote public health and are based on sound science. FDA’s drug center, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) reviewed the application for Plan B and concluded that “the available scientific data are sufficient to support the safe use of Plan B as an over the counter product, but only for women who are 17 years of age or older.” By over-ruling the Agency’s own scientific panels, the FDA leadership has both compromised its mission and raised serious questions about inappropriate political influence. The current 60-day comment period regarding packaging and marketing issues sidesteps the FDA’s mission to promote public health. Suitable packaging and proper distribution of the product will best be determined by Plan B’s manufacturers, Barr Laboratories, and appropriate FDA officials.

IS THE PROBLEM that ministers aren't good at ministering the church morals and they need help from Bush and his crony Supreme Court?




It's Saturday Night



Pharmacy refusals to fill scripts sets debate State rift centers on Plan B contraceptive

By JULIE DAVIDOWP-I REPORTER

The Washington State Board of Pharmacy is considering a policy that would outline if and when pharmacists could refuse to fill prescriptions due to moral, religious or ethical objections.

The discussion is clearly aimed at clarifying whether pharmacists can turn away prescriptions for Plan B, the emergency contraceptive that has caused controversy nationwide, although such a conscience clause could pertain to other areas as well.

Pharmacists should have the right to decline work that conflicts with their beliefs as long as they respect the patient, said Rod Shafer, executive director of the Washington State Pharmacy Association, a professional organization for pharmacists.

"We are not dispensing machines," Shafer said. "We are professionals who have as many rights as anybody else.

"The question is, how do you make sure that that ability (to refuse to dispense) is in place while still maintaining the patient is able to get what they desire if it's legally and medically appropriate?"

But reproductive-rights advocates say pharmacists are bound by state laws to dispense prescribed medications regardless of their personal convictions.

The only legal alternative would be if another pharmacist at the same facility could take over, said Nancy Sapiro, with the Northwest Women's Law Center.