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New arena for birth-control battle
Star Tribune ^ | May 3, 2005 | Rene Sanchez

Posted on 05/03/2005 5:33:17 AM PDT by wallcrawlr

Rebecca Polzin walked into a drugstore in Glencoe, Minn., last month to fill a prescription for birth control. A routine request. Or so she thought.

Minutes later, Polzin left furious and empty-handed. She said the pharmacist on duty refused to help her. "She kept repeating the same line: 'I won't fill it for moral reasons,' " Polzin said.

Earlier this year, Adriane Gilbert called a pharmacy in Richfield to ask if her birth-control prescription was ready. She said the person who answered told her to go elsewhere because he was opposed to contraception. "I was shocked," Gilbert said. "I had no idea what to do."

The two women have become part of an emotional debate emerging across the country: Should a pharmacist's moral views trump a woman's reproductive rights?

No one knows how many pharmacists in Minnesota or nationwide are declining to fill contraceptive prescriptions. But both sides in the debate say they are hearing more reports of such incidents -- and they predict that conflicts at drugstore counters are bound to increase.

"Five years ago, we didn't have evidence of this, and we would have been dumbfounded to see it," said Sarah Stoesz, president of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. "We're not dumbfounded now. We're very concerned about what's happening."

But M. Casey Mattox of the Center for Law and Religious Freedom said it is far more disturbing to see pharmacists under fire for their religious beliefs than it is to have women inconvenienced by taking their prescription to another drugstore. He also said that laws have long shielded doctors opposed to abortion from having to take part in the procedure.

"The principle here is precisely the same," Mattox said.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: conscienceclause; pharmacy
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To: Hermann the Cherusker
No, its a matter of associating with people who share your values and giving them your business, rather than supporting those who are undermining the type of society you wish to see come to fruition.

Such as a Jewish or Hindu doctor?

721 posted on 05/06/2005 12:17:56 PM PDT by Modernman ("Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde)
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To: Hermann the Cherusker

You completely missed the point. Let's try again.

You say that buying and taking the pill, even a non-sexually active woman who takes it, contributes to the "evil" drug companies, and helps make it available for other women to use it as an abortive.

If I buy a gun, even if I don't intend to use it, by contributing to gun companies, I am helping to make guns more available to those who wish to use a gun to commit murder.


722 posted on 05/06/2005 12:21:13 PM PDT by Quick1
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To: Hermann the Cherusker
My wife, for example, doesn't go to non-Catholic ob/gyn's because they are constantly pushing birth control on her.

I find that hard to believe. I've never had an OB-GYN "push" birth control on me. I don't even recall any of them raising the subject. They probably figured if I wanted it, I'd ask. Perhaps other females here could provide additional first-hand information on the topic.

723 posted on 05/06/2005 12:26:12 PM PDT by mountaineer
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To: swissarmyknife

"Very well said. At first I thought this guy's posts were a joke, but now I see he really means it and that absolutely sickens me."

I considered that he might be a troll, too, but you never know. It always amazes me that people insist that their faith should trump all other considerations in every situation, not appreciating that others with far less palatable beliefs will demand the exact same right.


724 posted on 05/06/2005 12:26:41 PM PDT by MonaMars
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To: mountaineer
I've never had an OB-GYN "push" birth control on me. I don't even recall any of them raising the subject.

Same here. Never happened.

725 posted on 05/06/2005 12:28:24 PM PDT by .38sw
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To: MonaMars
In an emergency, we don't get to choose who treats us. Whoever is working that shift in the ER is the one who treats us.

As a Catholic, if I go to my local Catholic hospital, I am fairly assured of treatment by a Catholic doctor, and certainly treatment in line with the moral norms of the Church.

726 posted on 05/06/2005 12:31:35 PM PDT by Hermann the Cherusker
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To: mountaineer
I find that hard to believe. I've never had an OB-GYN "push" birth control on me. I don't even recall any of them raising the subject. They probably figured if I wanted it, I'd ask. Perhaps other females here could provide additional first-hand information on the topic.

Do you have more than 2 children?

727 posted on 05/06/2005 12:32:22 PM PDT by Hermann the Cherusker
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To: mountaineer
I've never had any doctor push birth control on me. As a matter of fact, my ob/gyn was emphatic about explaining all methods of birth control, when I did ask for it. And he wasn't Catholic.
728 posted on 05/06/2005 12:33:36 PM PDT by unbalanced but fair
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To: SoothingDave

I do not agree with that one bit!!!! If you are a sexual person you are going to have the same amount of sex! You can get pregnant whether you have sex one time or 100 times.


729 posted on 05/06/2005 12:37:15 PM PDT by ihv2bme
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To: ihv2bme
Again, you start from the assumption that the amount of sexual activity undertaken is not affected at all by the availability of contraceptives. There is more sex with more contraceptives. So more failures occur so more unwanted pregnancies occur so more abortions happen.

I do not agree with that one bit!!!! If you are a sexual person you are going to have the same amount of sex!

Disagree all you want, it doesn't change a thing. Contraceptives encourage people to have more and more frequent sex. It's elementary.

You can get pregnant whether you have sex one time or 100 times.

Sigh. You are much more likely to get pregnant over 100 sessions than you are with just one. Yes, just one can knock you up. But repeated efforts make the statistics different. This is just simple math.

A girl who has sex on Prom night is less likely to become pregnant than the girl who has sex every weekend of her senior year.

SD

730 posted on 05/06/2005 12:42:01 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: FreepinforTerri
3-5 people that are dead for no reason that making your sex life more spontaneous? That doesn't seem evil to you?

Been away for a couple of days, but to answer your question, yes, it does.

I guess my point is that the actuality of what birth control pills do isn't being publicized in the debate over pharmacists.

I was looking for accurate information, but the accurate information, although less "evil" than I thought, is still "evil".
731 posted on 05/06/2005 12:44:07 PM PDT by babyface00
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To: Hermann the Cherusker

"As a Catholic, if I go to my local Catholic hospital, I am fairly assured of treatment by a Catholic doctor, and certainly treatment in line with the moral norms of the Church."

I see. So when you get in a car accident on some highway and need immediate care to save your life, you'll insist that they take you to a Catholic hospital even though it might be 3 times as far as the nearest hospital? Well, good luck with that.


732 posted on 05/06/2005 12:52:43 PM PDT by MonaMars
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To: MonaMars
I see. So when you get in a car accident on some highway and need immediate care to save your life, you'll insist that they take you to a Catholic hospital even though it might be 3 times as far as the nearest hospital? Well, good luck with that.

It would probably help your understanding if you didn't work off the assumption that Catholics were ignoramuses. Nothing Herman said would lead a reasonable person to conclude that he would turn down emergency care from a competent source.

For elective care we are free to elect doctors and hospitals of our choice. Is that difficult to understand?

SD

733 posted on 05/06/2005 12:56:34 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: Hermann the Cherusker
Do you have more than 2 children?

Do you live on a bus?

734 posted on 05/06/2005 1:26:33 PM PDT by countess
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To: SoothingDave
"Disagree all you want, it doesn't change a thing. Contraceptives encourage people to have more and more frequent sex. It's elementary."

It may take away the stressful burden of the thought of getting pregnant but the fact is people will do what they want "HAVE SEX" whether they are on the pill or not! Why do you think there are UNWANTED PREGNANCIES STILL!
735 posted on 05/06/2005 1:32:44 PM PDT by ihv2bme
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To: ihv2bme
the fact is people will do what they want "HAVE SEX"

You'll have to excuse the portion of us who still believe people are better than animals.

SD

736 posted on 05/06/2005 1:40:08 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: ihv2bme
It may take away the stressful burden of the thought of getting pregnant but the fact is people will do what they want "HAVE SEX" whether they are on the pill or not! Why do you think there are UNWANTED PREGNANCIES STILL!

Mankind is differentiated from animals in that we are able to control our urges. Otherwise whenever a woman was ovulating, guys would come running after her like dogs chasing a dog in heat.

737 posted on 05/06/2005 1:51:15 PM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: SoothingDave

"For elective care we are free to elect doctors and hospitals of our choice. Is that difficult to understand?"

Try reading our entire exchange. I discussed an emergency situation. He responded by saying he wouldn't choose a musim doctor. I again mentioned an emergency. He said he'd choose a Catholic hospital. I again mentioned an emergency, which, by necessity, limits election. If I'm talking about an emergency and someone keeps bringing up choice as the most important factor in said situation, it hardly seems inappropriate for me to reiterate my point. If someone like yourself feels the need to get bent out of shape over my desire to keep the discussion on point, that's hardly my problem. Is that difficult to understand?

"It would probably help your understanding if you didn't work off the assumption that Catholics were ignoramuses. Nothing Herman said would lead a reasonable person to conclude that he would turn down emergency care from a competent source."

I am Catholic. As to your second statement, that all depends on his definition of competent source, doesn't it?


738 posted on 05/06/2005 2:02:56 PM PDT by MonaMars
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To: Hermann the Cherusker
Bullimia is a mortal sin. People who practice binging and purging without repentance will face damnation.

Next time I see someone post "Theresa Marie Schindler, Martyr for the Gospel of Life, pray for us", I'll refer them to your post for clarification.

739 posted on 05/06/2005 2:11:14 PM PDT by malakhi
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Comment #740 Removed by Moderator


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