As the first half of Gov. Jon Corzine’s four-year term comes to a close, it’s safe to say the results have been less than overwhelming.
No real tax reform. No long-term solution to the state’s chronic budget woes. No significant progress in imposing and enforcing a higher level of ethical standards on lawmakers.
But one thing you have to say about the governor’s first 22 months in office. He isn’t afraid of a good fight.
He took on President George W. Bush, filing a lawsuit after the president vetoed the bill to increase benefits under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
He has battled with Republicans in the Legislature over his yet-to-be-announced “asset monetization” plan, his close-to-the-vest negotiations with state workers’ unions, his approval of a watered-down ban on dual office-holding and a host of other issues.
And he hasn’t backed away from challenges within his own Democratic Party, tangling with legislative leaders over matters ranging from a proposed constitutional convention on tax reform to line items in the state budget devoted to certain legislators’ pet programs.
Now, Gov. Corzine has thrown down the gauntlet against a new — and powerful — foe: The Pope.
Just days after Pope Benedict XVI encouraged pharmacists around the world to exercise their right as “conscientious objectors” to refuse dispensing emergency contraception or euthanasia drugs, Gov. Corzine signed a bill forbidding such practice in New Jersey.
The new law specifies that New Jersey pharmacies must fill prescriptions for any drug they stock — or locate another nearby pharmacy that carries the drug — regardless of any religious or philosophical beliefs held by their employees.
Sen. Joseph Vitale, the Middlesex County Democrat who sponsored the legislation, explained, “Discussion of morals and matters of conscience are admirable, but should not come into play when subjective beliefs conflict with objective medical decisions.”
The practical effect of the new law is pretty clear. It will ensure that women in New Jersey retain access to birth-control pills and other forms of contraception, including emergency medication. This policy couldn’t be in more direct opposition to Pope Benedict’s position.
”Pharmacists must seek to raise people’s awareness so that all human beings are protected from conception to natural death, and so that medicines truly play a therapeutic role,” the Pope declared.
We’re pleased that a majority of legislators in New Jersey disagree with this narrow-minded view, and that Gov. Corzine signed a bill that favors objective medical decision-making over religious or philosophical obstructionism. Because when you come right down to it, pharmacists who refuse to dispense lawful prescriptions aren’t just exercising some lofty personal principle; they’re denying access to health care to patients in need.
The Roman Catholic church may be obliged to follow Pope Benedict’s pronouncements regarding contraception — but the rest of the world, including New Jersey, is not. Interestingly, both the Italian and Chilean governments, despite their countries’ huge Catholic populations, told pharmacists to ignore the decree from the Vatican, asserting the Pope had no right to tell them what to do. New Jersey has gone a step further, ordering pharmacists to honor state law above religious dogma. We commend the governor, and the legislators who supported the bill, for taking this rational step.
