Is it wrong to work in a drugstore where I sometimes have to ring up plan B pills?

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mcifrese

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I’m 23 and I’m a cashier at CVS and every so often someone buys a plan B and more frequently, people buy condoms. When I first interviewed for the job a few years ago, I thought the morning after pills were only sold at the pharmacy counter or else I’d not have even interviewed in the first place. I don’t think it even occured to me that I’d have to ring up condoms. That bothers me but it never seemed like a very big deal since my role was only incidental. But morning after pills have the potential to cause abortion, which is worse than contraception. I’m concerned over whether it’s immoral for me to keep this job, but I’m also hesitant to quit because it’d be difficult to find something else that’s as flexible with hours (I’m in school), especially with the state of the economy right now. I do have another job which is my primary means of income, but the hours aren’t very consistent. I live with grandma while I’m in school and she doesn’t charge me rent, so I’m not in danger of ending up homeless, but she’d not be happy if I quit CVS without having another job with consistent hours to replace it, as she wants me to become more financially independent.
Anyways, I quite clearly have a lot of bias, so I don’t think I can jude the situation objectively.

Any advice?
 
What does your grandmother think of the abortion issue? If she’s pro-life like you are then she may understand why you want to quit.
 
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1ke said:
These things are readily available all over the place.
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They wouldn’t be if everyone refused to sell them.
1ke said:
You are not materially facilitating the purchaser.
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He is facilitating the transaction.

Dont get me wrong, I live in the real world too. But I’m not going to kid myself about the role I play in it, no matter how forced I may feel.
 
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I guess what I’m struggling with is whether I have a “proportionally series reason to do so”.
 
If you will not be kicked out for doing it then I’d say you probably don’t, and should not do it. But that’s what I’d do. Maybe you can call a priest about it
 
OP, is there any way you could discuss the possibility of recursing yourself from these specific sales with your boss? It may be unlikely but I would start there.
 
I wouldn’t work somewhere that sold that. You should have the freedom to be able to work somewhere else.
 
I would start looking for another job. It could happen very quickly. I would trust in God that good things happen when you follow Him.
 
I would ask a priest if this would be considered “encouragement of others sins” which according to wikipedia is a mortal sin.
 
But where does it end? If you get a job waiting tables and a gay couple celebrating an anniversary is seated in your section–are you ‘facilitating evil’ by bringing them food and drink?
 
No because you don’t have certainty what a gay couple may or may not be doing in their lives.

But if you sell a contraceptive pill which is potentially abortive, you know without doubt that you are one of the many people who have contributed to the abortion industry’s business. You then have blood on your hands.

So the OP should resign, and say why.
 
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ThomasMT said:
They wouldn’t be if everyone refused to sell them.
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Since they are legal in the US, corporations are going to sell them.

I agree it would be a great universe where everyone agreed not to sell products that are objectively immoral. That’s not a universe we live in.
ThomasMT said:
He is facilitating the transaction.
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Not in a manner that rises to the definition of cooperation with evil in a materially culpable way.
ThomasMT said:
Dont get me wrong, I live in the real world too. But I’m not going to kid myself about the role I play in it, no matter how forced I may feel.
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It’s your prerogative to apply whatever moral code you choose. As for the OP, it is not anyone’s place to put a burden on them that the Church does not.
 
jredden92 said:
I would ask a priest if this would be considered “encouragement of others sins” which according to wikipedia is a mortal sin.
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Going to Wikipedia to look up mortal sins is probably not a great move if you have scrupulosity issues
 
0Scarlett_nidiyilii said:
One of its mechanism of action is to make the uterine lining hostile to the fertilized egg.
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Again: it’s not an abortion pill.

Yes, the hormones in contraceptive pills can theoretically act in the manner you indicate if taken for a long period of time, but isn’t likely going to do that at one dose.

It is NOT an abortion pill, that isn’t why people buy it, and to try to put that on the OP is wrong.

The OP isn’t doing anything wrong by being the cashier at a pharmacy that sells hormonal contraceptives, condoms, or adult magazines, etc.
 
avemariagratiaplena said:
This should help you:

The National Catholic Bioethics Center

Ethical Principles concerning Employed Health Care Providers and the… ​

In the 1990s, The National Catholic Bioethics Center drafted a template policy, “Model Clinical Practice Ethics Guidelines for Affiliated Health Care Professionals with Respect to Prescription of Contraceptives,” to assist Catholic health care…
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A cashier at CVS is not a “health care provider.” He’s not prescribing anything, he’s merely ringing up a transaction.
 
Maximian said:
But if you sell a contraceptive pill which is potentially abortive, you know without doubt that you are one of the many people who have contributed to the abortion industry’s business. You then have blood on your hands.
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This is NOT true.
Maximian said:
So the OP should resign, and say why.
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And this is why the OP should talk to parents and their pastor instead of getting on the internet.
 
Maximian said:
But if you sell a contraceptive pill which is potentially abortive, you know without doubt that you are one of the many people who have contributed to the abortion industry’s business. You then have blood on your hands
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This is silliness. If I work at video store and someone rents a sexually explicit movie, am I contributing to the porn industry?
 
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