Saturday, August 23, 2008


PFLI's Brauer Comments on Proposed HHS Conscience Regs

MEDIA ADVISORY, August 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- Karen L Brauer MS, RPh, President of Pharmacists for Life International, submits the following and is available for comment:

I find the firestorm concerning the availability of abortion and artificial birth control drugs and devices to be ludicrous in the face of health care realities. These things are not lifesaving nor life preserving necessities.

There has been little to no attention given to the patients with severe, chronic and/or terminal conditions who face problems ranging from inconvenience and long waits, to denial of care. Many patients must special-order medications necessary for their survival. Some have access only directly from the manufacturer or from specialty pharmacies. Some must register for limited access medications, and must wait for approval and shipment.

Many patients submit to blood tests regularly to be allowed access to very necessary therapy.

Here's a very recent personal example: Dicloxacillin suspension cannot be found at most pharmacies, and so my child had to be switched to another antibiotic, which was not the first choice for the condition being treated. Unlike the people who need instantaneous access to their birth control, I did not complain about this long standing reality of health care. Not all products and services are readily available.

The hospital nearest to my home does not yet handle open heart surgical procedures. I have not seen protesters outside this facility, bemoaning the fact that they need to go to the next town for this vital health care service, nor has there been coverage in the media. There is no public outcry to force this hospital and its practitioners to provide open heart surgery.

Why is there such a burning need to force medical professionals to provide artificial "birth control" and abortion?

It is the coercive nature of certain groups of people which necessitates the regulations recently promulgated by the Dept of Health and Human Services, respecting the conscientious objections of those who choose not to kill humans at any stage of development.

This agency has ventured into the business of making regulations against intolerance.

Karen L Brauer MS, RPh, is the President of Pharmacists for Life International, an organization founded by Dr. Bogomir Kuhar in 1984. It remains the most fully prolife organization for pharmacists. Find our politically incorrect site at www.pfli.org. In contrast to some of our primary, ideological opponents, Pharmacists for Life International truly makes no profit, and the officers and staff are volunteers.