[Vision2020] House Bill 216 (Pharmacist Conscience Bill)

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the Spokesman Review's blog site.

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Pharmacist conscience bill heads for amendment
at 8:04 a.m. on March 18

Rep. Tom Loertscher’s bill to give pharmacists or “any person” the right 
to refuse to fill a prescription for a patient on the basis of conscience 
is headed for the House’s amending order, to revise the bill so it applies 
only to pharmacists - not to cashiers, stores, or others. Rep. Lynn Luker, 
R-Boise, proposed the amendments. “It’s simply a matter of burden of 
proof,” he said. “I don’t think it will change in any way the current 
practices, because people do have that right.” Emotional testimony on the 
bill stretched for two days before it was approved for amendment on a 14-4 
vote. The testimony included pharmacists and other experts who said Idaho 
pharmacists already have the right to refuse to fill a prescription; Idaho 
has no law requiring them to fill all prescriptions. Among those who 
testified was pharmacist Gloria Hansen, who said, “I do know that we need 
to act according to our conscience. .. I lean on the rock which is the 
lord God.” 

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It is truly a sad day in Idaho for those citizens whose ethics, morals, 
and religious beliefs differ from those of their pharmacist.

Query:  If an asthmatic, living in extremely rural Idaho, dependent on 
inhalers for survival, is refused access to such much-needed inhalers, by 
his/her pharmacist, because (s)he is gay or his/her 
ethics/morals/religious beliefs differ from his/her pharmacist's 
ethics/morals/religious beliefs . . . and the asthmatic dies as a 
result . . . is the pharmacist guilty of ANYTHING?

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
Join us at The First Annual Intolerista Wingding, April 17th, featuring 
Roy Zimmerman and Jeanne McHale.  For details go to . . .

http://www.MoscowCares.com/Wingding

Seeya
there.

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