Chicago, Ill., May 5, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago is asking state governor Rod Blagojevich to back off on a law, which requires pharmacists to fill all prescriptions—including abortion-causing ones, which they pharmacists may find morally reprehensible.
The Cardinal told the Chicago Sun-Times that, "People have a choice what pharmacy they want to go to, and pharmacists should have a moral choice also.”
"I don't think the state has any business encroaching on the conscience of people," Cardinal George added. "We haven't done this in this country, we've respected individual conscience as something that is of great moral importance, so I would hope the governor would rethink his regulation."
On Wednesday, the governor defended the new order and told the Sun-Times, "I believe that if you're a pharmacist and you've made a decision to sell birth control and contraceptives, once you made that decision, then you're in no position to decide who might or might not be someone you sell it to…That's not your place as a pharmacist."
So far, two lawsuits have been filed against Governor Blagojevich by pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for drugs like the morning after pill.
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