Regarding the political cartoon you published in today's (Saturday, January 28) edition:
In all the years I have been reading newspapers I have never been so offended by
a political cartoon. The cartoon featured a pharmacist being hauled off for being 'fanatical' enough in his religious beliefs to not fill a prescription for an 'emergency contraception' pill... (As if conceiving a child somehow constitutes a medical emergency.)
Shame on you for purchasing it. Shame on you for printing it. Shame on you for helping promote such an ideologically naive and morally repugnant piece of tripe. The simple fact is that pharmacists have morals and abortion is a morally loaded issue. Recent advances in science have turned what was once, generally speaking, a morally neutral and arguably noble (helping people with critical medicinal needs is noble) profession into a minefield for those with strong convictions regarding the sanctity of human life.
Abortion and, increasingly, euthanasia are not topics that most pharmacists were forced to confront when they chose their profession. The implications of their actions were not in conflict with their moral values. That is changing with new advances in medicine, and belittling those who have the integrity to confront such issues as they arise is simply wrong. The only 'fanatics' that need removed from the Medicare system are the anti-intellectuals who would rather continue pell-mell through life without considering the implications of their actions, or giving regard to the people who will effected by their choices.
I advise you in the future to be more cautious about the material you choose to print, lest you prove guilty of such irresponsible behavior yourselves.
NOTE: The Joplin Globe saw fit to run this one on Super Bowl Sunday in the Opinion Page (4B). It was edited only to remove the insinuation that the ad was purchased, and included the caveat at the end. Thank you dear Globe.
