There’s a store opening up soon in my neighborhood that has a sign calling itself a “full life pharmacy” or something like that. I’ve been wondering what that meant, and now I know:
When Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy opens Tuesday in a Chantilly shopping center, it will have on display a picture of St. John Leonardi, the 16th-century patron saint of pharmacists.
But there will be no birth-control pills, condoms, cigarettes or pornographic magazines. There will, however, be booklets on natural family planning.
DMC Pharmacy is one of the country’s few “pro-life pharmacies” that refuse to dispense contraceptives on moral and health grounds, arguing that they cause abortions, lead to promiscuity or endanger a woman’s health.
“Birth control is not health care,” said Robert Laird, executive director of DMC, the Fairfax nonprofit that will own and operate the 1,500-square-footstore at 13945 Metrotech Drive. “We are catering to a special niche of people who like the pro-life message in their business.”
It’s located right next to The Catholic Shop, which I have actually patronized. But I don’t think I’ll be stepping foot in the DMC Pharmacy … mainly because I don’t trust pharmacists who declare that “Jesus is good medicine.”
