CONCORD, N.H. (BP) -- The Alliance Defense Fund has filed an official complaint against Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, saying the group is breaking New Hampshire state law by directly providing abortion-causing drugs to women.
According to the April 18 complaint, filed with the New Hampshire Board of Pharmacy, "Planned Parenthood does not have a pharmacist on site at any of its six clinics" but nevertheless distributes birth control, the morning-after pill and RU-486. New Hampshire requires family-planning groups to contract with the state in order to dispense such drugs. Those without contracts -- such as Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, whose state contract expired last July -- are required to send women to licensed pharmacies.
"No matter where a person stands on abortion, everyone should agree that Planned Parenthood has to play by the same rules as everyone else," said Michael Tierney, a Manchester lawyer who is affiliated with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).
The Planned Parenthood chapter legally distributed the drugs before the contract expired. But, according to records, a representative from the group called the state department of health a few days after it expired to say that though patients were still being seen, "they have lost their dispensing privileges, so they are not handing out contraceptives" but rather "directing their clients to cost-effective pharmacies."
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But according to the complaint, "It appears that Planned Parenthood has been dispensing pharmaceuticals since September 14, 2011" -- one day after inking a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which intervened directly after New Hampshire refused to contract with Planned Parenthood any longer.
Under that deal, the Planned Parenthood chapter "dispenses over $4,000 of pharmaceuticals a day."
The New Hampshire Board of Pharmacy, Tierney said, "has the power to either revoke a license, suspend a license, not renew it, or impose fines on Planned Parenthood for dispensing pharmaceuticals in violation of the statute," Tierney said.
Compiled by staff of World News Service, where this story first appeared.
Copyright (c) 2012 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press www.BPNews.net
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