In his syndicated radio show on April 25th, Dr. Edell took a few minutes to criticize pro life pharmacies. He explains them as pharmacies whose owners do not offer birth control, alcohol, tobacco or pornography.
Edell inferred that the owners' faith obliged them not to sell birth control, and that local patrons were losing out on health care providence because of it. The Doctor also took the discussion to a broader theme by saying that conscience clauses could not co-exist with the Hippocratic oath.
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Rebuttal:
1: Catholics are not obliged to refrain from selling birth control in order to be Catholic or morally just. They do, however, have the freedom to do so in order to find morality.
2: One pharmacy not selling prophylactics does not stop their proliferation to the public. Within a three mile radius of my home, in a town of 18,000, there is a grocery store, 2 pharmacies, 3 gas stations, a college campus, and two hospitals, all in which one could find condoms, some in which will give away condoms for free. If one pharmacy stopped selling condoms, not much would change, because it is a lucrative practice.
3: Conscience clauses only contradict a Hippocratic Oath if you only allow for one definition of well-being. A doctor would not go forward with treatment or prescribe a substance if she thought that the patient would be worse off. Some doctors see a different type of well-being, other than that of Dr. Edell, and simply cannot go forward. Most then send the patient somewhere else at that point. Too often this argument is framed in terms of personal choice, as if the treatment would be good for the patient, but the doctor just chooses not to administer it. Doctors who enact conscious clauses do so for the patient, out of the doctor's definition of well-being. As long as that definition is reasonable, then there is no contradiction.
We live in an over-sexed society. One cannot turn on the television or radio, pick up a magazine, or drive down a street without seeing sex used in adds to sell, or used in shows to create viewership. The pleasure aspect of sex is being camouflaged as its primary purpose for these ends, when in fact, procreation is its primary purpose. Having a baby doesn't sell furniture or beer, however. Some people are taking a stand on this trend, by not selling prophylactics or porn, because they believe, and rightfully so, that grossly misusing sex will only birth other problems, both moral or physical. ie Children being born into an incomplete family, born to parents who don't want them, or even worse, being deemed unwanted before birth and killed. Dr. Edell, you need not chastise these owners'. They may not be the complete solution to ails of our society, but they are the only candles in a dark, dark room.
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