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Plan B and the case of faux morality in medicine
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On July 8, 2009 the U.S 9th Circuit Court of Appeals finally bought some sense to the issue surrounding the dispensing of Plan B, stating pharmacists could not refuse to dispense it. Commonly called the morning after pill because, if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, implantation of the egg is prevented and pregnancy avoided. It does not terminate an existing pregnancy. Along with Plan B came a group of pharmacists across the nation who refused to dispense the medication, as well as birth control, which often contains the same drugs as Plan B, citing moral grounds. Lawsuits were brought and, until now, these medical professionals were given decidedly non-scientific permission to randomly take leave of their responsibilities.
While pharmacists do have the legal right (and responsibility) to refuse to fill a prescription if they believe a medication is going to harm the patient via mis-dosing, overprescribing, overuse, drug interactions, or the like, to cite moral (translated Biblical Christian) grounds for such a decision is misplaced. The problem with the refusal to sell Plan B, or any birth control is that it amounts nothing more than a smoke screen, a faux morality. A quick trip down the moral high road will make this abundantly clear.
So what does the Bible have to say about birth control? Your Intrepid Pharmacist consulted several Biblical Concordances. One actually listed “Birth Control” and its citation was Genesis 38:7-10. As with so many things in the Old Testament, it is the story of two brothers. Er, the eldest was killed by God for being wicked (manner of dispatch not given). O’Nan, his younger brother was sent to Er’s widow and commanded to “raise up seed to you brother.” Stated less decorously, that means he was supposed to take his sister-in-law for a wife and impregnate her, presumably in honor of his late (though so-wicked-God-killed-him) brother. O’Nan, however, did not do this, opting instead for an early withdrawal and he ”spilled his seed on the ground.” This angered the Lord who then also slew O’nan (again, manner of dispatch not given). If this is anyone’s idea of an argument against birth control one must ask how many of them have taken on their dead relative’s spouses and raised families with them. But this story is by no means the lone spot in the Bible that relates to matters of health and morality.
The apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 3:16-17, “Know you now that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” On the basis of the your-body-is-God’s-temple-so-take-care-of-it-or-he-will-destroy-you argument, “if you hadn’t had non-monogamous sex you wouldn’t be needing Plan B.” And from there it is an easy step down the moral high road to “If you have not engaged in non-monogamous sex, you wouldn’t need that one gram dose of azithromycin for that sexually transmitted disease.”
And the next step: “If you’d have at least had sex with the correct gender, you wouldn’t need those HIV/AIDS medications.” And the next step: “If your gigantic glutes and gut had seen an athletic training facility other than to drive by it en route to the Speedy Burger drive-thru, you wouldn’t need that cholesterol lowering medication. And, since exercise has been shown to have a positive effect on blood glucose levels, you wouldn’t need those diabetes medications, either.” And the next step: “If you hadn’t smoked you wouldn’t have emphysema and you wouldn’t need that albuterol and ipratropium to help you breathe.” And that is the problem with the Plan B/birth control morality. “If you can do one, you can do the others,” to quote Inherit the Wind’s Henry Drummond, “Because ignorance and fanaticism is forever busy, and needs feeding.”
To cap off our journey down the moral high road, consider this statement from Exodus 15:2: “If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord you God…and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases [plagues of Egypt] upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that heals you." So, what we see here, along with the Corinthians one, above, is a statement whose summation is if you are sick it is because you are not listening to God and keeping his statutes and he is judging you. At this point then, no medical care should be provided; the patient should simply sort it out with God. After all, who are we to interfere with God’s judgments by offering potentially healing medication and education?
Thus, the faux morality of those who refuse to dispense Plan B or birth control for reasons of conscience becomes clear and their inability to understand their profession becomes equally clear. Such beliefs, misplaced and randomly picked as they are, need to be left at the door, or else do not bother to walk through it. The job those of us in medicine is to patch the patient up, educate and motivate them as best we can, and send them back into the fray, hopefully a little wiser for the wear. It is not to pass judgment. Or, put another way, Matthew 7: 1 and 2.
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