A Wisconsin pharmacist Neil Noesen is being sent to ethics classes for refusing to fill a perscription for contraceptives.
Apparently:
"The prevailing issue is the safety and health of the patient becomes the overriding issue. You can exercise your belief, but you have to make sure there's a continuance of care and that patient is taken care of," said Bettiga, himself a pharmacist in Green Bay.
I guess a healthy woman is now an infertile woman. Which begs the question why is insurance coverage of fertility treatments mandated by some states?
Regretablly, Neil's situation is not unique. While Catholics were mourning the loss of John Paul II, the governor of Illinois was helping advance a coersive form of the culture of death, by requiring:
pharmacies to accept and fill prescriptions for contraceptives without delay, after a growing number of complaints nationwide that some pharmacists are refusing to dispense birth control pills and the "morning-after" pill.He also established a toll-free number that residents can call to report refusals by pharmacies.
One senses that the battle over contraception is just beginning, and those opposed are definitely in the minority.