Just Say Yes--or No
After being slapped by the state of Wisconsin for refusing to dispense birth-control pills, pharmacist Neil Noesen took a job at a drugstore in Minnesota, but he was promptly canned when his new bosses learned of his past history. Noesen--arrested after planting himself at the drugstore chain's headquarters in protest--is the latest example in an emotionally charged tug of war between pharmacists and women's groups over whose rights are more important--patient or druggist. The debate has prompted several states to consider bills to force pharmacists' hands--or to allow them to refuse to sell contraceptives on moral grounds. The result: a checkerboard of enforcement actions, with conservative states allowing pharmacies to refuse to sell drugs designed to prevent or end pregnancies and moderate states championing women's rights.
Congress is also weighing in. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, both Democrats, introduced bills last week requiring drugstores to fill all prescriptions. At least three states--Mississippi, Arkansas, and South Dakota--have so-called conscience clauses; at least 10 more are mulling similar clauses, while others consider measures requiring that doctors' prescriptions be filled. Meantime, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a right-to-refuse bill, and a Pat Robertson organization is suing to force Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to lift an order imposing hefty fines on pharmacies that decline to fill prescriptions. "So a woman has to go down a street [to a different drugstore]. I'm not ready to cry over that," says Francis Manion of Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice.
Steven Aden, an attorney for Noesen--sanctioned by Wisconsin--says druggists shouldn't have to check their beliefs at the pharmacy door. Women's groups say that's exactly what they should do. Los Angeles attorney Karen Romano told the California Legislature that a druggist chastised her for trying to fill a prescription after a miscarriage. "This person," Romano says, "was trying to be the moral arbiter of my life."
This story appears in the April 25, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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