I was surprised to learn recently that it is difficult to find a pro-life physician who also refuses to prescribe chemical contraceptives as birth control. My initial thought was that this is a no-brainer. Chemical contraceptives can cause an abortion (let's not debate that here), doctors should strive to prevent abortion, so doctors should not prescribe chemical contraceptives as birth control. Where is the difficulty here?

I then thought about the argument that the doctor is just giving the patient access to pharmaceuticals, and the patient's autonomy in making her own healthcare decisions removes any culpability from the physician. Can this situation be likened to, say, an employee at a book store? Is the sales clerk culpable when he rings up a patron's purchase of pornography? What about a sale of the latest Joel Osteen?

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Scott Roper
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA): "A bunch of hippie Calvinists"
Winston-Salem, NC