You think giving the Christofascists their way on abortion will shut them up?

Guess again.

Rev. Mark H. Creech, Agape Press:

The question I now have concerns those who own, operate and work in the retail drug establishments. What happens if a pharmacist elects not to sell the morning-after pill -- high doses of hormones that can kill the human embryo early, before it implants in the uterus. If over-the-counter sales of the drug become legal, will they be forced to provide it?

Amazingly, pharmacists across the country are already dealing with this issue because they have decided not to fill birth-control pills of any kind. Late last year, CBS News featured one such pharmacist in Louisiana, Lloyd Duplantis.

The Christian Action League recently spoke with Mr. Duplantis about his decision not to fill birth-control prescriptions. We wanted to know how the exposure on CBS News had affected him and his business. Duplantis said he had heard nothing but encouragement for his stand. "The local community has been very supportive," he said. "It's really been quite overwhelming. They seem to understand very clearly my motives are not just religious, although they're religious based, but I'm concerned that these are dangerous chemicals that can kill, maim or destroy either the person taking them or their unborn child."

"This is the same issue that's being raised about VIOXX," Duplantis added. "We don't have an issue with controlling fertility; we are just saying that the pill is destroying people."

Duplantis belongs to an organization known as Pharmacists for Life International, an association of pharmacy professionals that is exclusively pro-life. The organization's motto is: "Let the gift of medicines promote life, not destroy life."

It's unfortunate, but you can believe if Duplantis had received attention on CBS News for refusing to fill a prescription for VIOXX, because he was concerned for a patient's health, he would have been hailed as a national hero. But because he refuses to provide drugs that are dangerous abortifaciants, CBS News portrayed him as an intolerant religious bigot who forces his religious views onto health care.

Duplantis agrees the issue is politically fueled. "I'm raising this issue because it's dangerous, but they're hearing 'birth control, Catholic church, religion,'" he said. "I'm trying to say 'dangerous' while they're saying 'religious fanatic.'"

According to Pharmacists for Life's website, the organization has over 1,600 professional members and hundreds of lay supporters. Pharmacists for Life was birthed in part because of the number of pharmacists who are facing legal action for refusing to fill birth-control pills on the basis of religious and moral objections. With the morning-after pill already on the scene -- and the possibility it may soon become almost as simple to buy as aspirin -- members of the organization are deeply concerned about legal action that may be forthcoming against their colleagues, if they refuse to provide the medication.

For instance, Pharmacists for Life is currently following the case of Neil Noesen, a pharmacist in Wisconsin, who in 2002 worked as an independent contractor at a K-Mart pharmacy and refused to refill a woman's birth-control prescription because it was against his religion. Amazingly, Wisconsin responded by trying to take away Noesen's license to dispense medication in that state.

Because of such cases, and the potential for others like it, Pharmacists for Life is calling for federal and state lawmakers to pass "conscience clause" legislation that would protect the rights of pharmacists who wish to avoid dispensing hormone-containing birth-control pills, which can operate by abortive means -- that is, by taking a human life.

Sorry, folks, but if you don't want to dispense birth control pills, don't become a pharmacist. It is not a pharmacist's job to decide what prescriptions he/she will or won't fill. This is bullshit. This is NOT about women's safety, it's about female chastity, just as everything else in the Christofascist briefcase is....frightened little men with small penises who are so afraid of women that they hate female sexuality and love war (see previous post about the anxious masculine posturing of the Bush Administration).

We all sell out a bit when we go to work. I used to work for a company that had the manufacturer of Hummers as a client. It's up to us as individuals to determine how much selling out we can handle and still look at ourselves in the mirror. If these pharmacists can't handle dispensing birth control pills, which are LEGAL MEDICATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, then they should choose another profession.

Period.