"Pope Benedict XVI said Monday that pharmacists have a right to use conscientious objection to avoid dispensing emergency contraception or euthanasia drugs _ and told them they should also inform patients of the ethical implications of using such drugs."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/29/AR2007102900968.html
This is a controversy which has been going on for several years. On the one hand, the Vatican and conservative group would like to make it illegal for pharmacists to distribute drugs that they consider to be morally objectionable. On the other hand, many liberal groups are pushing to make it illegal for pharmacists not to fill prescriptions for such drugs.
Having recently read Luther's Eight Sermons at Wittenberg, I find that Luther's handling of the reform of worship there to shed interesting light on the struggle to control pharmacists. In 1521 and 1522, a group of reformers under the leadership of Andreas Karlstadt decided to impose Luther's ideas by force. At the time Luther was in hiding and did not play a part in this, but when he found out about it, he went to Wittenberg and said the following to the reformers:
"In both [things which are necessary, and things which are a matter of choice], love must deal with our neighbor in the same manner as God has dealt with us; it must walk the straight road, straying neither to the left nor to the right. In the things which are “musts” and are matters of necessity, such as believing in Christ, love nevertheless never uses force or undue constraint. Thus the mass [as practiced at this time] is an evil thing, and God is displeased with it, because it is performed as if it were a sacrifice and work of merit. Therefore it must be abolished. Here there can be no question or doubt, any more than you should ask whether you should worship God. Here we are entirely agreed: the private masses must be abolished. As I have said in my writings, I wish they would be abolished everywhere and only the ordinary evangelical mass be retained. Yet Christian love should not employ harshness here nor force the matter. However, it should be preached and taught with tongue and pen that to hold mass in such a manner [as it is now] is sinful, and yet no one should be dragged away from it by the hair; for it should be left to God, and his Word should be allowed to work alone, without our work or interference. Why? Because it is not in my power or hand to fashion the hearts of men as the potter molds the clay and fashion them at my pleasure [Ecclus. 33:13]. I can get no farther than their ears; their hearts I cannot reach. And since I cannot pour faith into their hearts, I cannot, nor should I, force any one to have faith. That is God’s work alone, who causes faith to live in the heart."
For Luther, the pastoral issue of including and loving all people (even those who hold views diametrically opposed to yours) trumps all. Reforms must be made, but never should a person be forced to act in a certain way.
I see a couple of implications as to how these ideas apply to the discussion of pharmacists filling prescriptions, regardless of whether or not to do so is immoral. First, those pharmacists who feel it is wrong to distribute certain drugs should not be required to do so. Second, those people who have been prescribed medication and wish to taken, should in no way be prevented from receiving their medication.
How would this work? Earlier this month in Illinois, a compromised was settled in which pharmacists can step aside and have someone else in their pharmacy fill an objectionable prescription, so long as there is always a way for a patient to receive medication.
It looks like both the Pope and the State of Illinois are taking a tip from Luther.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/29/AR2007102900968.html
This is a controversy which has been going on for several years. On the one hand, the Vatican and conservative group would like to make it illegal for pharmacists to distribute drugs that they consider to be morally objectionable. On the other hand, many liberal groups are pushing to make it illegal for pharmacists not to fill prescriptions for such drugs.
Having recently read Luther's Eight Sermons at Wittenberg, I find that Luther's handling of the reform of worship there to shed interesting light on the struggle to control pharmacists. In 1521 and 1522, a group of reformers under the leadership of Andreas Karlstadt decided to impose Luther's ideas by force. At the time Luther was in hiding and did not play a part in this, but when he found out about it, he went to Wittenberg and said the following to the reformers:
"In both [things which are necessary, and things which are a matter of choice], love must deal with our neighbor in the same manner as God has dealt with us; it must walk the straight road, straying neither to the left nor to the right. In the things which are “musts” and are matters of necessity, such as believing in Christ, love nevertheless never uses force or undue constraint. Thus the mass [as practiced at this time] is an evil thing, and God is displeased with it, because it is performed as if it were a sacrifice and work of merit. Therefore it must be abolished. Here there can be no question or doubt, any more than you should ask whether you should worship God. Here we are entirely agreed: the private masses must be abolished. As I have said in my writings, I wish they would be abolished everywhere and only the ordinary evangelical mass be retained. Yet Christian love should not employ harshness here nor force the matter. However, it should be preached and taught with tongue and pen that to hold mass in such a manner [as it is now] is sinful, and yet no one should be dragged away from it by the hair; for it should be left to God, and his Word should be allowed to work alone, without our work or interference. Why? Because it is not in my power or hand to fashion the hearts of men as the potter molds the clay and fashion them at my pleasure [Ecclus. 33:13]. I can get no farther than their ears; their hearts I cannot reach. And since I cannot pour faith into their hearts, I cannot, nor should I, force any one to have faith. That is God’s work alone, who causes faith to live in the heart."
For Luther, the pastoral issue of including and loving all people (even those who hold views diametrically opposed to yours) trumps all. Reforms must be made, but never should a person be forced to act in a certain way.
I see a couple of implications as to how these ideas apply to the discussion of pharmacists filling prescriptions, regardless of whether or not to do so is immoral. First, those pharmacists who feel it is wrong to distribute certain drugs should not be required to do so. Second, those people who have been prescribed medication and wish to taken, should in no way be prevented from receiving their medication.
How would this work? Earlier this month in Illinois, a compromised was settled in which pharmacists can step aside and have someone else in their pharmacy fill an objectionable prescription, so long as there is always a way for a patient to receive medication.
It looks like both the Pope and the State of Illinois are taking a tip from Luther.
