Posted on 08/04/2007 7:33:41 PM PDT by monomaniac
Springfield, IL (LifeNews.com) -- An Illinois pharmacist has won the first battle against Wal-Mart over whether he has to be forced to distribute the morning after pill, which can cause an abortion in limited circumstances. Beardstown pharmacist Ethan Vandersand rejected a request to fill a prescription for the drug last year.
That refusal led to disciplinary action from Wal-Mart and a civil rights lawsuit from Vandersand.
Vandersand was the only pharmacist on duty at the Wal-Mart store when a Planned Parenthood staff member seeking the Plan B drugs presented the script. The staffer eventually went to another pharmacy in town.
The lawsuit has gone before U.S. District Judge Jeanne Scott and she issued a statement this week saying that state pharmacists should have the right to refuse to dispense the Plan B drug on moral or religious grounds.
She also denied a request by Wal-Mart to dismiss the lawsuit. Scott also said she agreed with Vandersand that he is legally protected by the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act which protects the conscience rights of medical professionals.
The statute prohibits discrimination against any person for refusing to provide health care because of his conscience," she wrote in opposition to Wal-Mart, which argued that the law doesn't apply to pharmacists.
Providing medication ... constitutes health-care services. Any person, including Vandersand, who refuses to participate in any way in providing medication because of his conscience is protected by the Right of Conscience Act," Scott added.
However, the statement isn't her final ruling in the case and it won't affect an executive order from Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2005 that requires all pharmacists to fill any prescription for a legal, drug, including any drug that could cause an abortion.
Francis Manion, a pro-life attorney with the ACLJ who is representing Vandersand in the case, talked with the Springfield Journal-Register about the case.
He said the initial ruling is a huge step forward in the ongoing struggle to ensure legal recognition of pharmacists right to practice their chosen profession without violating their moral and professional integrity.
Wal-Marts arguments, now soundly rejected by this court, may no longer be used by corporate or governmental officials to squeeze out of the profession pharmacists with a high regard for the sanctity of all human life, Manion added.
But Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley told the newspaper that The facts of the case haven't even been heard yet" and said the initial ruling wasn't a setback.
Pam Sutherland, president of the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council complained about the ruling to the newspaper and Susan Hofer, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, said officials there would review the ruling.
Vandersand is asking for loss of pay and monetary damages in the case.
Because that executive order is illegal on its face. The governor can't write rules that effect non-government employees.
The judge is following the law, why disagree with it?
This is the same logic as the Muslims use when they dont want to handle pork at a cash register due to moral and/or religious prohibitions.
Pork is not covered by the law.
Buzz off n00b.
Since when can an executive order cover a private citizen anyways?
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America
“Illinois residents should thank Gov. Blagojevich for standing up for women’s health and privacy. Gov. Blagojevich’s actions reflect the values of freedom and personal responsibilityand that means timely access to birth control that could prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce the need for abortion,” Keenan said. “The governor’s latest proactive step to guarantee that pharmacies fill valid birth-control prescriptions makes Illinois a clear leader among the states. We need more states to follow the Illinois model, especially since 18 states considered measures this year that would allow pharmacies or pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for contraception.”
******
HEY, NANCY, keep your legs crossed if you don’t want to get pregnant, honey, which shouldn’t be too hard for you to do!
Bloodthirsty creep.
What I say I filth?
You're as stupid as your are, well, stupid.
Nacy Keenan
as a candidate in overseeing NARAL Pro-Choice America's political program in the 2006 midterm elections, which helped fuel the gain of 23 pro-choice seats in the U.S. House and three in the U.S. Senate
In February 2005, Nancy issued a challenge to President Bush and his allies who oppose abortion to stop attacking a woman's right to choose and join the organization in supporting efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies through medically accurate sex education, birth control, including the "morning-after" pill, and improved family-planning services.
Washingtonian Magazine named her one of the top 100 most powerful women in Washington, DC. The Detroit News described her as both "forthright and politically savvy," noting that she, among other pro-choice leaders, is responsible for "honing a message about American values of personal responsibility, freedom and privacy" defined as "a new stance and a realistic one."
GAG!
Hey mefistofelerevised...
Wish I could say this to your face while bouncing my finger off of your chest (and yes it would be painful):
I will say WHAT I want WHEN I want and WHERE I want and if you don’t like it, too bad.
Consider yourself spanked you whiny little twerp.
Before coming to NARAL Pro-Choice America, Nancy served as a Montana state legislator and State Superintendent of Public Instruction and ran a strong campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000.
Nancy earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Montana State University and a master’s degree in education administration from the University of Montana. Before seeking elected office.
She is also routinely quoted in The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, and other major national and regional publications.
What fresh devil is this?
No, this is about The State forcing Walmart to carry abortifacients, and forcing employees to obey The State’s edicts. NJ just passed a law forcing pharmacies to carry these drugs. I have no problem with a private company having it be their policy, and people making the choice to work under these conditions. Again it is like The State MAKING all convenience stores sell beer. Just because something is “legal” doesn’t obligate you to sell it.
What you say has NOTHING to do with the biggest retailer in the world. I spent 100k for my daughter to go to the best private high schools. Don’t try to impress me. If you work for the biggest private employer in the world don’t THINK you have the right to change the rules.
Nancy Keenan is the President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, formerly known as the National Abortion Rights Action League. (The group changed its name in 2003.)
Keenan worked at Montana State Hospital the summer before she started college in 1970 at Montana State University. During the summers of 1971-73, she worked at the Anaconda Minerals Company, where she was “one of the first female laborers” to shovel ore and carry buckets of boiling copper, the National Organization for Women (NOW) states.
From 1989-2000, she was Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction. In that position, she publicly made her views clear on a number of issues. For example, when a parent asked that Playboy Magazine be removed from school libraries, Keenan refused to intervene. On the subject of school prayer, Keenan told The Missoulan, “Our government must never infiltrate religion any more than our government should be infiltrated by the Vatican.” On the subject of intelligent design, the theory that posits that an intelligent designer and not mere random evolution is responsible for all life on Earth, Keenan, speaking at a Montana Human Rights Network event, said, “The point is, that’s a private matter that should be held in a private church, funded with private dollars. But the religious right keeps trying to inject it into the political arena.” On the subject of school vouchers, Keenan told The Missoulan: “When the religious right entered the political arena was right after Brown v. Board of Education (the Supreme Court decision outlawing racial segregation) 50 years ago. That was the first time we started hearing about vouchers so that white children didn’t have to go to school with brown children. They wanted to use tax dollars so white children could go to white Christian academies.” She also has said that vouchers are “a war on public schools and school children.”
In 2000, the “lifelong activist” ran as the Democratic candidate for Montana’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bulwark of Keenan’s campaign coffers was filled by out-of-state donations from Washington, D.C., New York, and San Francisco. Some of her top donors were: the AFL-CIO, the AmeriPAC Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Emily’s List, MoveOn.org, the National Education Association (NEA), People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, the Teamsters, and the United Auto Workers. Democratic U. S. House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and former Texas Governor Ann Richards (D) came to stump for her.
After she lost the election, Keenan moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a private educational consultant from 2001-03. Then in 2003-04, she became the first full-time Education Policy Director of People For the American Way (PFAW). (In 1995, she was a candidate to be the group’s president and later served on its board of directors.) As a lobbyist for the organization, Keenan focused primarily on attacking tuition vouchers and tax credits. “Government is what brings us together for the common good, not as individuals making money at it alone.” She told the Associated Press: “Why should we be responsible for that [vouchers] as taxpayers, and is that in the best interest of our community? And, fundamentally, is it fair?” she said. “I think, to all of those, the answer is ‘no.’”
What rule says you have the right to tell me how to live? You know this is America, right?
You have no idea, obviously.
Should he?
Sure, if you can get enough shareholders behind your proposal.
Nobody is trying to impress you ... in fact, we are being very tolerant of your intolerance of others here.
If the employer is WRONG then that employee can THINK to challenge the ignorant employer.
Live as you please. This is America.
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