Page 5B • Wednesday, February 11,2004
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Opinion
The Battalion
An issue of morals?
Denton pharmacist had no right to refuse woman RU486 pill on moral grounds
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P harmacists can’t deny RU486
to rape victims, yet an Eckerd
pharmacist did this very thing
[orthe sole purpose of advancing
fopersonal moral beliefs.
; Protesters wielded signs with
iogans including “Got raped?
Ederd doesn’t care,” in reaction to
jDenton pharmacist’s decision not
I a prescription for the RU486
ing-after pill. This unprofes-
sioaal refusal on the pharmacist’s part is absolutely
inexcusable and made even worse by the fact that the
toman he denied the pill was seeking emergency
trthcontrol after the ordeal of being raped.
Thephannacist defended his decision by saying
iat“this medicine is designed to end life and 1 can
notabideby that,” as an unnamed friend of the victim
ioldKLTV.com. However, the pharmacist succeeded
iiembarrassing and heaping judgment upon someone
iliohad just experienced the emotional and physical
tana of rape, and a person w ith any shred of moral
ity, sensitivity or compassion should not he able to
iide by that.
“A rapist breaches somebody’s rights, and on top
rfthat, we don’t need rape survivors to have their
its breached again. You can’t be neutral on this,"
liron Benjamin, coordinator of the Men Against
Violence group at the University of North Texas, told
leNorth Texas Daily. Many North Texas students
»erc among the group of about 40 Protesters, which
also included members of the Feminist Majority
Leadership Alliance.
Students were not the only ones to express out
age at the pharmacist’s actions. Pat Cheek, a retired
scbl teacher and 1970s candidate for the Denton
City Council, joined the protest saying. “I don’t care
dieler I believe in that drug or not. The whole
point is that the woman was refused a doctor's pre
scription.” she told the North Texas Daily.
And that is the whole point.
A pharmacist’s primary responsibility is to Fill pre
scriptions, and this one failed miserably. Regardless
of whether the woman seeking the prescription was a
tapevictim, the pharmacist should not have made
sncIi a decision based on his own moral convictions,
which ate inconsistent with company policy, accord-
ingtoloan Gallagher, vice president of communica-
lionsforEckerd Corp.
Wermore, what he did was illegal. A pharma-
cislmayonly refuse to fill a prescription if it could
he detrimental to the patient’s health (ie: if he sus
pects abuse or if there is a danger of drug interac
tion). “The law does not say that the pharmacy can
decline because of moral ground,” Gay Dodson.
executive director to the
Texas State Board of
Pharmacy, told The
Associated Press.
“If they have a moral
problem, it is their option
not to stock the prod
uct," Tyler pharmacist
Mark Sullivan told
KLTV.com about the
role of ethics in
pharmacy prac
tices. To stock the
drug — and then
decline filling a cus
tomer's prescription
for it — is not only
bad business practice
but also a horrendous customer
service policy and has the. potential to be psychologi
cally damaging, especially to a woman trying to cope
with the mental and physical effects of rape.
No one should have to argue the morality of
receiving medication with a pharmacist. The doc
tor’s job is to evaluate the patient’s need and
respond with the appropriate treatment; the
pharmacist’s job is to prepare and dispense
the prescription in conjunction with the
doctor’s orders. Any pharmacist complying
only w ith doctor’s orders that suit his
moral stance has clearly chosen the wrong
profession.
However, the most alarming thing about
this incident continues to be the lack of
sympathy shown to the rape victim.
Understandably, she probably did not come
in and announce that she needed the med
ication because she had been raped. As
the pharmacist was likely to be unaware
of her situation, he should never have
presumed in a fit of rash self-righteous
ness to be a person of superior moral
authority.
Eckerd rightly took disciplinary action
against such as an egregious breech of
policy and public trust. In the meantime,
this particular rape victim was fortunate
enough to find a nearby Walgreen’s open
and willing to accept her business with
out offering the condemnation of sermo
nizing condescension.
Lhidsay Orman is a senior
English major.
Bush’s intelligence on Iraq wasn’t flawed
Si-partisan panel reviewing U.S. intelligence on Iraq should be unneces-
L ast Friday, President
George W. Bush signed
an executive order estab
lishing a bi-partisan panel to
review U.S. intelligence related
lothe Iraqi war. Because
Bush’s decision to go to war
was not based on faulty intelli
gence, this panel is unneces- daniel
sary, In fact, U.S. intelligence rossell
efforts have been very success
ful in the War on Terror.
To think that Iraq didn’t possess, or at the very
least aimed to possess weapons of mass destruc
tion is naive. In the past, Saddam Hussein has
shown the world that he had an extensive col lec
tion of illegal weapons. Saddam has used chemi-
calweapons against his own people and against
othernations in the Middle East. In a recent
speech, CIA Director George Tenet stated,
“Concluding that Saddam had no interest in
rebuilding his weapon programs would have
ignored his long and brutal history of using them.”
In fact, weapons inspectors have proven that
Saddam has tried to expand his weapons capabil
ities over the last decade. The Iraqi Survey
Group, the group responsible for searching Iraq
forevidence of weapons of mass destruction, has
confirmed that Iraq had an extensive ballistic
missile program. These missiles were being built
inviolationof U.N. sanctions. It is unlikely that
the missiles were being developed for anything
other than use as platforms for biological or
chemical weapons.
Furthermore, analysis of the Iraqi situation
from numerous different countries’ intelligence
networks all led to similar conclusions. Iraq either
possesses or is developing
weapons of mass destruction.
It is not just a coincidence that
the intelligence from the
United States, Britain and
other sources all showed the
same thing.
Even if weapons of mass
destruction haven’t been
found, it doesn't mean that
U.S. intelligence was wrong.
There are numerous reasons
why weapons of mass
destruction haven’t and may
never be found. The weapons
could have been moved out
side Iraqi borders to another
nation hostile to the United
States. Weapons could have
easily been hidden around
the country. Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld points out that the
hole Saddam was found in, “was big enough to
hold biological weapons to kill thousands of
people.”
The most probable explanation is that Saddam
did his best to destroy all evidence of his pro
grams just to make the United States look bad.
David Kay, leader of the Iraqi Survey Group,
reported, "The Iraqis systematically destroyed
and looted evidence before, during and after the
war.” In order for there to be evidence to
destroy, the programs had to
exist in the first place.
Bush has been highly criti
cized for overstating the threat
posed by Iraqi weapons pro
grams. In his 2003 State of the
Union address Bush argued
that Iraq posed an “eminent
danger” to the world.
Intelligence reports never stat
ed that Saddam had the ability
to directly attack the United
States. However, that doesn’t
make him any less of a threat.
To critics, an eminent threat
means that Iraq has missiles
aimed at the United States
ready to launch. By that time,
it would be too late. Iraq was
an eminent threat because
they were developing weapons
to attack the United States and the world.
Intelligence efforts have also aided in other
aspects of the war on terror. Tenet points out that
U.S. intelligence led to the capture of Khalid
Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind behind the 9-
David Kay, leader of
the Iraqi Survey Group, re
ported, The Iraqis
systematically destroyed
and looted evidence
before, during and after
the war/ In order for there
to be evidence to destroy,
the programs had to exist
in the first place.
11 attacks, not to mention the numerous Iraqi
officials and al-Qaida operatives captured in the
fight against terror.
Additionally, U.S. operatives infiltrated
Libya’s supplier network and discovered that the
Libyans were restarting their nuclear weapons
program. This information was essential to U.S.
diplomats’efforts at negotiating with Libya.
These negotiations led to Libya’s decision to
dismantle its weapons program.
Due to the necessary secrecy in the intelli
gence community, the public usually isn’t noti
fied when U.S. intelligence does something right.
The only stories that make the news are the ones
showing when a mistake is made. Terrorist
groups around the world have undoubtedly been
planning another Sept. 1 1. The fact that there
hasn't been another terrorist attack on the
United States is a good indication of the success
of U.S. intelligence efforts.
Were intelligence reports regarding Iraq’s
weapons of mass destruction completely accu
rate? Of course not. Uncertainty is inherent in
the intelligence business. Were the intelligence
reports reliable? Absolutely. The United States
has the best intelligence network in the world,
and it has demonstrated its effectiveness in the
War on Terror.
Daniel Rossell is a junior
nuclear engineering major.
Bonfire is Truest form
of Aggie Spirit' around
In response to a Feb. 10 mail call:
Miss Malone, how dare you. Were
you there at 2 a.m.? Did you search
lor your friends, not knowing if they
survived?
Trie people who put together the
olf-campus effort are old Bonfire
leadership, and we were there. So do
not tell us about the “point” of Bonfire.
Doing so doesn’t simply disagree with
ny opinion; it attacks the very
essence of why I am proud to call
myself an Aggie.
Bonfire is not about Burn. To quote
a popular phrase, “We only burn it to
make room for next year.” Cut and
Load are far more important, and they
have always been off campus.
But it doesn’t matter. Bonfire isn’t
confined by location; its spirit is much
bigger than that; It’s about leadership,
camaraderie and hard work. It tran
scends generations. It’s the truest
form of the Aggie Spirit that I’ve ever
seen.
Student Bonfire’s efforts exemplify
all of these qualities, and every old
Bonfire guy who has come out has
agreed. Don’t believe me? Then
here’s a challenge: come and try it. It
might just change your mind. Bonfire
MAIL CALL
has a way of doing that to people.
BTHOB 2004,
Luke Cheatham
Student Bonfire Founder/Director
Class of 2003
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