Free Republic

Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig framed by shadow of Adam Gadahn Last month, American al-Qaeda operative Adam Gadahn issued a “convert-to-Islam-or-die message to U.S. President George W. Bush, Daniel Pipes, Michael Scheuer, Steve Emerson and Robert Spencer. This attempt at forced conversion to Islam followed the “conversion” at gunpoint of the two kidnapped Fox News reporters Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig. What exactly was the significance of these events? On the one hand, these attempts at forced conversion were in clear continuity with Islam’s long history of calling people to convert before waging war on them. But how exactly...

(AP) Walgreen Co., the nation's largest drugstore chain by revenue, said it has put four Illinois pharmacists in the St. Louis area on unpaid leave for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception in violation of a state rule. The four cited religious or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and "have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense, and in Illinois that is not an option," Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said. A rule imposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in April requires Illinois pharmacies that sell contraceptives approved by the U.S. Food...

Should pharmacists be required to dispense so-called "emergency contraceptives" even if it violates their deepest convictions? That's no longer a hypothetical question, as Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich recently issued an executive rule requiring all pharmacies in his state to fill a woman's prescription for the "morning-after pill." The governor's "emergency order" comes with the force of law, and means that pharmacists who refuse to fill these prescriptions can face sanctions and can lose their jobs and professional status. If pharmacists can be denied a right of conscience, what about other citizens? How long will it be before hospitals will be...

Pharmacists should not have to choose between their religion and their profession, Republican lawmakers argued Tuesday as they supported a bill to protect pharmacists who refuse to fill birth control prescriptions. But a stream of critics, from doctors to abortion rights advocates, told a Senate subcommittee the bill would deny women access to several forms of contraception recommended by their doctors. State law does not address whether pharmacists who have religious or moral objections must fill prescriptions for birth control or emergency contraception. The state Pharmacy Examining Board says pharmacists may decline to fill such orders, but last month disciplined...

Lawmakers in several states are considering "conscience clause" legislation that would permit pharmacists not to fill prescriptions for medications that violate their religious beliefs. Meanwhile, four different states are considering laws that would make sure pharmacists dispense all medications for all prescriptions they receive, regardless of the pharmacist's morals. Does requiring a pharmacist to dispense medication she finds morally objectionable violate her First Amendment right to free exercise of religion? RESOURCES “Pharmacists’ rights at front of new debate: Because of beliefs, some refuse to fill birth control prescriptions” The Washington Post (DC) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5490-2005Mar27.html “Are pharmacists right to choose?” CBS News...

Most Missouri pharmacists are bypassing the conscience debate by simply not stocking the controversial abortifacient morning-after pill according to a survey of pharmacies conducted by NARAL (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League) Pro-Choice Missouri. NARAL found that, of 928 pharmacies surveyed statewide, less than a third – 29 percent – carried the Plan B prescription abortifacient, marketed as “emergency contraception.” Abortion zealots and media alike are decrying the fact that in some rural regions, such as Shannon County and Barry County, not a single pharmacy will allow their employees to cooperate in the destruction of an unborn child. Missouri...

They say it was racial discrimination. She says it was the Lord telling her not to rent to fornicators. Closing arguments are expected this morning in a civil-rights trial involving a Lawrence couple, Adrianne Morales and Wayne Jackson, who say they were turned down for an apartment in 2002 because she's Hispanic and he's black. But the apartment manager, Lynne Sander, says she rejected them because God recently had told her she shouldn't rent to unmarried couples. "I am following God's law," Sander told jurors on Wednesday. "I did not discriminate against them. For my morals and my integrity, I...

Pharmacists who "just say no" when asked to fill prescriptions that violate their personal ethics are targeted by proposed state legislation that would mandate all prescriptions be filled. Some local druggists are not happy about the bill, authored by Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, which would be the first in the nation to require filling emergency contraception prescriptions, even if the pharmacist feels it violates his or her personal morals. The owner of Napa's Family Drug on Old Sonoma Road, Thomas Gracia, has mixed feelings. "I think people should be able to get the prescriptions that they need," he said. "However,...

MILWAUKEE (AP) A mother of six claims a pharmacist refused to fill her prescription for an emergency contraceptive and berated her as a baby-killer, leaving her so traumatized she didn't seek out another pharmacist and ended up having an abortion.``The pharmacist crossed the line,'' said Tricia Knight, the attorney for the woman. ``It's one thing to conscientiously object. But you cannot intend to inflict emotional harm on a woman when she is making a very important and often very emotional decision in her life.''The state Department of Regulation and Licensing, which regulates pharmacists and other professionals, opened an investigation into...

A gay San Jose couple has won the first round of a legal battle with an Internet adoption agency that refused to post the two men's profiles on a Web site where they could be seen by prospective birth mothers.