Holy Father Urges Pharmacists to Reject the Abortion Pill - Updated
Pharmacists must be allowed to refuse to supply drugs that cause abortion or euthanasia, Pope Benedict said today, calling on health professionals to be "conscientious objectors" against such practices. Pope Benedict XVI told a convention of Roman Catholic pharmacists this morning that part of their job is to protect human life from conception until natural death -- the Church teaching that rules out any deliberate termination of pregnancy or euthanasia. "It is not possible to anaesthetise the conscience, for example, when it comes to molecules whose aim is to stop an embryo implanting or to cut short someone's life," the Pope said. The so-called abortion pill, which is available in many European Union countries and has had regulatory approval in the United States since 2000, has not been authorized in Italy. The Vatican has criticized moves by some Italian politicians who favor the pill, which blocks the action of the hormone progesterone that is needed to sust...