LIFE DIGEST: Pharmacy owners win preliminarily
- Aug 31, 2009
Two Illinois pharmacy owners have gained at least a temporary victory in their effort to conduct their practice according to their pro-life consciences.
The Seventh Judicial Circuit Court in Springfield, Ill., granted a preliminary injunction Aug. 21, protecting Luke VanderBleek and Glenn Kosirog from having to abide by former Gov. Rob Blagojevich’s 2005 order requiring pharmacists to fill all prescriptions. The injunction will remain in effect until there is a final ruling in the case.
Also in this edition: Czechs practicing euthanasia, doctors say, Father of Terri Schiavo passes away and Arrest made in threat to abortion doctor’s family.
The decision means the pharmacies owned by the two men will not be required to dispense the “morning-after” pill Plan B and other drugs to which they object. Plan B, for which girls 16 and younger must have a prescription, works to restrict ovulation in a female. It also can act after conception, thereby causing an abortion, pro-lifers point out. This mechanism of the drug blocks implantation of a tiny embryo in the uterine wall.
VanderBleek and Kosirog “are suffering irreparable harm in the form of an ongoing chill of their free exercise rights and rights of conscience under federal and state law, as well as unlawful coercion based on their religious and moral beliefs,” said judge John Belz in his ruling, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, which represents the pharmacists. The plaintiffs “have a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims,” Belz said.
Earlier court decisions recognized individual pharmacists’ freedom of conscience, but Belz’s ruling provided a win for pharmacy owners.
Czechs practicing euthanasia, doctors say
Euthanasia is being practiced in the Czech Republic, even though it is against the law, some doctors have acknowledged.
At a recent meeting of the Czech Doctors’ Academy, no physician raised his hand when a speaker asked if anyone is convinced euthanasia is not used in the country, according to an Aug. 26 report by Mlada fronta Dnes, the Czech News Agency said.
Euthanasia involves the deliberate administration of drugs to cause a person’s death rather than to relieve his suffering.
The Czech Senate defeated last September a bill to legalize euthanasia.
Three European countries — The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg – permit euthanasia. Switzerland allows physician-assisted suicide, which involves a doctor prescribing lethal drugs for a patient to use in taking his own life. In assisted suicide, the physician may not administer the drugs.
Father of Terri Schiavo passes away
Robert Schindler Sr., who fought a legal battle to save the life of brain-injured daughter Terri Schindler Schiavo, died Aug. 29 in St. Petersburg, Fla., from heart failure.
Schindler, 71, along with his wife and other children, sought to protect Schiavo’s right to receive food and water, but a court granted her husband’s wishes that nutrition and hydration be withdrawn. Schiavo died of dehydration in March 2005.
After Schiavo’s death, Robert, his wife Mary, and their children, Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo and Bobby Schindler, started the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation to assist other families in their efforts to defend the rights of the disabled.
“In life, Bob, and his wife Mary, never sought the spotlight. They only wished to care for their beloved daughter, Terri. Through their selfless dedication to Terri, they showed the nation and the world what it means when someone says they are ‘pro-life,’” said David O’Steen, the National Right to Life Committee’s executive director, in a written statement.
Arrest made in threat to abortion doctor’s family
A Spokane, Wash., senior citizen was arrested Aug. 26 for threatening the family of late-term abortion doctor Warren Hern.
Donald Hertz, 70, was charged with communicating a threat via interstate commerce and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, according to The New York Times. If found guilty, Hertz could receive a prison sentence of as much as six years and a maximum fine of $350,000. Hertz will plead not guilty, his lawyer said.
Hertz’s arrest followed an investigation that began following a June 23 phone call to Hern’s abortion clinic in Boulder, Colo. According to the indictment, Hertz said two Utah men would kill Hern’s family, The Times reported.
Hern said he has received multiple death threats since entering the abortion business in 1973, but he began taking them more seriously after fellow late-term abortion doctor George Tiller was killed in May at his Wichita, Kan., church, according to the report.
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