Question:
Answer:
Many in the medical community erroneously argue that pregnancy begins when a fertilized ovum (embryo) implants in the lining of a woman’s uterus. This is incorrect. Abortion is the killing of an unborn human person. And a human person’s life begins when a woman’s egg is fertilized, irrespective of whether it subsequently implants in the wall of their mother’s uterus. Plan B is an abortifacient because it can prevent the implantation of a human embryo in their woman’s womb. So it not only works as a contraceptive, it can also work as an abortifacient.
In formal cooperation in selling such a drug, a person intends the evil outcome of the principal agent, in this case the possible killing of an unborn child intended by the drug manufacturer. In your case, your cooperation wouldn’t be formal, but material. Typically, material cooperation isn’t prohibited because of the remote nature of it. However, in your scenario as pharmacist tech, your cooperation would be immediate, because it contributes to the essential circumstances of an evil act, in this case filling a Plan B prescription and handing it to a customer. As eminent moral theologian William May notes, “Catholic tradition has regarded, and still regards, immediate material cooperation in intrinsically evil acts, such as contraception and abortion, as never morally permissible.”
Catholics pharmacists and pharmacist techs should ask for a conscience exemption from filling such prescriptions. The same could be done re: contraceptives in general.
For more on Dr. May’s analysis, see his presentation. For more information on the Church’s perspective on formal and material cooperation, see these two articles by Catholic Answers Senior Apologist Jimmy Akin.
To find a pro-life pharmacy at which you could possibly work, if you cannot secure a conscience exemption from selling Plan B at your current place of employment, contact Pharmacists for Life International. See also this related article.