Adolf 'But I was just doing my job' Eichmann would agree with you.
Posted on 01/27/2006 12:56:47 PM PST by wagglebee
ST. LOUIS, Missouri, January 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Target pharmacist has lost her job for refusing to dispense or refer for the abortifacient morning-after pill.
“For me, life begins with two cells,” said Heather Williams, explaining that the so-called emergency contraception pill, Plan B by Barr Pharmaceuticals, often prevents implantation of a newly formed human embryo within the uterine wall – which, of course, constitutes abortion. The same mechanism is responsible for the sometimes abortifacient effect of the regular birth-control-pill.
According to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report, Williams has refused to dispense or refer for the abortifacient for the past five years while working as a part-time Target pharmacy employee. She argues that to refer patients to a dispensary where they can find them is equally immoral. “I just can’t be a link in the chain at all,” Williams said.
Williams, who is a mother of three, lost her job over the issue as of January 1. She filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of Missouri. She says, however, that the blame for her dismissal belongs to Planned Parenthood, not the Target store. Planned Parenthood has spearheaded efforts across the US to mandate that pharmacists co-operate in chemical abortion.
Williams and attorney Ed Martin have appeared on television to argue that pharmacists are the scapegoats in the battle over Plan B. Martin is also the attorney for four Walgreens pharmacists from across the river in St. Louis, Illinois, who lost their jobs for the same reason. The four refused to abide by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s decree mandating that pharmacists dispense the abortifacient.
Blagojevich warned Illinois pharmacists in April to dispense the abortifacient morning-after pill or face legal backlash – despite a state statute that exempts pharmacists from participating in practices contrary to their religious views.
Williams said that Target forced pharmacists state-wide to sign a “conscience clause” last fall agreeing to dispense the abortifacient or refer to another pharmacy that does. She wrote the chain a letter December 1 telling them she could not sign the clause. “We had to make sure it was in stock, and even give directions to the store,” she said. “I would be a participant.”
Williams is losing her job even though the Target store where she worked has never stocked Plan B.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Walgreens Disciplines Four Pharmacists for Refusing Abortifacient Morning-After Pill Prescriptions
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05120102.html
No biggie. I'd tell her, "Fine, I'll go to that cashier over there." or "Fine, I'll go to WalMart and get it at half the cost."
>> Good luck with the EEOC filing. My wife was fired in writing without cause after years of good service for telling her boss she was pregnant. We lost in a suit to reclaim back wages and cost of insurance for child. <<
The prime focus of the EEOC nowadays is enforcing a ban against "English-only" workplaces, even though 5 federal circuit courts of appeal have ruled they have no such authority to establish such a ban, and they have promised Congressman Tom Tancredo they would not enforce such a ban in the 9th-circuit.
See the following news stories:
EEOC sues another small business for English-on-the-job
http://www.proenglish.org/news/newsletter.html#eeoc
Employer sues for crane operator test in Spanish.
http://www.proenglish.org/news/summer2005.html#crane
MA Attorney General threatens nursing homes
http://www.proenglish.org/news/spring2005.html#ag
English-speaking Miami employee forced to resign
http://www.proenglish.org/news/spring2005.html#ag
Target forces managers to learn Spanish, won't teach workers English
http://www.proenglish.org/news/fall2004.html#target
E.E.O.C. Attack on English Workplace Rule Defies 9th Circuit Ruling
http://www.proenglish.org/news/fall2003.html#eeoc
Official Klingon? [Multnomah County officials adapt Klingon to comply with EO 13155
http://www.proenglish.org/news/fall2003.html#klingon
(Multomah County changed its policy following national ridicule.)
ProEnglish Aids Arizona Drive-In Restaurant Facing EEOC Lawsuit Over English
http://www.proenglish.org/news/winter2003.html#az
(Restaurant banned Navajo "code-talking," which was used to sexually harass employees)
Ok. And I'm really just curious. The parameters of this debate regarding Plan B seem to get pretty vague. I really don't understand how folks can view regular birth control pills as legally acceptable (setting aside individual moral objections to birth control such as yours, which I fully appreciate) but then view Plan B, which operates within the same contraceptive framework, as legally unacceptable.
Good for them. But that doesn't give them a right to a job. I'm all for people being able to make a stand, but part of making a stand means there might be consequences, like losing your job. I have no problem with her refusing to make that referal or sign the paper saying she will, I also have no problem with Target deciding that if she's unwilling to make that referal or sign that paper then they aren't going to be her employer. It's a simple matter of voluntary relationships, Target wants someone willing to perform job X, if she isn't willing to perform job X then she is not filling their needs as an employer and therefore there's no reason for them to keep her as an employee.
It was not the employers policy, it was a decree by the governor, who through an executive order has mandated that pharmacists prescribe birth control/abortion pills. Most Pharmacies allow pharmacists the option, but that option has been denied in Illinois by an order of questionable legality.
Adolf 'But I was just doing my job' Eichmann would agree with you.
This is their whole world, Christian. And with technology improving and women of a certain age seeing their grandchildren in the womb realizing it's not a blob, minds and hearts are changing. Little by little.
She lost her job because she won't do murder.
I wish I was a rich industrialist. I would hire her in a well-paying position.
And if your father's employees refused to sell his store's products, he could fire them.
Correct?
Why blame Illinois? Or are you saying this pharmacist doesn't even know where she was working?
"Williams, who is a mother of three, lost her job over the issue as of January 1. She filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of Missouri."
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=TGT
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/target.asp
I think Target is an American Company located in Minnesota, its stock is mostly owned by mutual funds and individual stock holders.
Even the 'latex barrier' does not prevent all STDs.
Most of the problem stems from the governor's office who is trying to force this policy on pharmacies. The reason this is statewide and not countrywide is that it was decreed by the governor of Illinois.
"I think Target is an American Company located in Minnesota, its stock is mostly owned by mutual funds and individual stock holders.
"
Uh...did you see my [tongue in cheek] note, there. I know that Target is not French-owned. It was a humorous reference to the continuing repetition of that bogus story here.
Ah....the trouble is that this pharmacy is in Missouri, not in Illinois. It is the Illinois governor who made that executive order. Reading is FUNdamental
So... how is a pharmacist in Missouri subject to the laws of Illinois? I'll await your explanation.
The bottom half of the article refers to a case across the river in Illinois. So I am confused as to why or if Targets in Missouri are making Pharmacists sign this.
Nope. It only takes two and depending on how science progresses, only one.
It definitely is. However, I think some people have been confused by the joke of pronouncing it "Tar-zhay", as if it were a fancy French boutique.
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