Free Exercise...Or Force?

  Religious conservatives argue their moral beliefs against contraception give pro-life pharmacists the right to refuse dispensing prescriptions for various contraceptive methods. Pro-choice advocates argue personal convictions, whatever they may be, do not give these pharmacists the right to withhold patient medications. It has been unclear which side will triumph after years of active debate. One question, however, has been overlooked and must be addressed now: When did the right to free exercise of religion become the right to force it?

  To get our answer, let’s look at the First Amendment. The relevant section deals specifically with religion and government. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Although written over two hundred years ago, the language isn’t that hard to understand. Simply put, it says that Congress can’t force a state or national religion onto Americans, nor can it prohibit them the right to free exercise of religion.

This statement is so simple there shouldn’t be any doubt as to its meaning or intent. Yet pharmacists who insist it is their right to refuse filling prescriptions for contraceptives for religious or "moral" reasons are missing the obvious. Specifically, that "free exercise of religion" stops with each individual. When a pro-life pharmacist says he will not fill contraceptive prescriptions because his religion doesn’t permit it, he has crossed the line. He is no longer exercising his religion for himself but is establishing through force his religious doctrine on the customer. If Congress isn’t allowed to establish a religion nor religious doctrine for a state or country, it cannot be legally possible for one individual to force his or her religion onto another.

Karen L. Brauer, President of Pharmacists For Life, states pro-life pharmacists have a "right of conscience". She and others argue that this right or "conscience clause" permits them to do two things: opt out of filling prescriptions for contraceptives, and refuse passing on the slip for dispensing by another pharmacist. Brauer makes several arguments why their perceived right trumps that of the customer who brings in a prescription for contraceptives. We need to look at the objections presented, and answer each one individually.

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Objection #1

"We should be free to opt out of killing humans at any stage of development," Ms Brauer stated in an article that appeared in the April 8, 2005 issue of the Christian Science Monitor. Ms Brauer’s position is that emergency and regular oral contraceptives work by inhibiting ovulation, fertilization, or implantation. While most medical professionals define pregnancy as beginning with implantation in the uterus, she and others consider a fertilized egg - even before implantation - to be human. It is only a belief, however, and does not give her or Pharmacists For Life the right to force it onto another person by refusing to fill her contraceptive prescription.

Objection #2

"Forced referral is stupid," Brauer bluntly stated in an Associated Press report on September 16, 2004. "If we’re not going to kill a human being, we’re not going to help the customer go do it somewhere else." She insists pro-life pharmacists have the right to refuse dispensing contraceptive prescriptions themselves, and can also opt out of referring customers elsewhere or transferring prescriptions.

Once again, Brauer has decided that her religious beliefs and those of Catholics or Christians opposed to contraception are superior to the legal right of every customer to obtain the contraceptive prescribed by her doctor. The fact that the law states otherwise is irrelevant, as she honestly believes her opinions are "divine law" and should be honored no matter what. Her underlying message is obvious to anyone who can read: "Screw the law, it doesn’t apply to me."

Objection #3

Pro-life pharmacists insist they shouldn’t have to fill prescriptions for contraceptives due to moral or religious beliefs. Using this "logic" a sales clerk at a package store shouldn’t have to sell whiskey to a customer because she has personal objections to hard liquor. Using this "logic" any employee should be exempt from performing parts of a job she doesn’t like. That argument is unlikely to fly with employers. If an employee is accepting money for working at a particular establishment, it is that person’s responsibility to perform all parts of the job that are expected.

In the case of a pharmacist, a large part of the job is filling prescriptions written by doctors for customers. A pharmacist who has problems dispensing prescriptions for contraceptives due to religious conflicts has two options. He can either seek employment in a store that doesn’t stock contraceptives at all or change career. Nobody is forcing a person to stay at a job where he or she is unhappy with the work. Any pharmacist, however, who takes a job at a store location selling contraceptives along with other inventory had better be ready to comply with the duties of the job or risk losing it.

Comstock Revisited?

It is alarming enough that reports of pharmacy refusals of this nature are increasing. It is even worse that a growing number of pharmacy owners and managers are supporting employees who claim "right of conscience" in refusing to fill contraceptive prescriptions. It raises a disturbing question in some of our minds. Chiefly, are the notorious and dreaded Comstock laws now being brought in through the back door when we thought they’d been kicked out the front?

The creator of the original anti-birth control statutes was Anthony Comstock. Born in Connecticut, one of the most repressive states where contraception was concerned, he moved to New York City after serving in the Civil War. As a devout Christian, Comstock was appalled by what he saw in the streets of the city. According to him, the town was full of prostitutes and pornography. In the late 1860's, he began supplying information to the police for raids on sex trade merchants and rose to prominence with his "anti-obscenity" cause. In addition to cracking down on the sex trade, Comstock soon began targeting the contraceptive industry. He was positive that availability of contraception alone produced lust and lewdness.

Brauer and Comstock, although more than a century apart, seem to have a disturbing view in common. Each held the conviction that personal religious beliefs gave them a special right to force their views onto American citizens. In their minds, it didn’t matter that some hold different views regarding sex and contraception. Only "their" opinions are important. In the past, few politicians, if any, stood up to Comstock and told him he had no right to force his religious beliefs onto Americans.

Happily, things have changed. Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois publicly took a stand in April 2005 and filed an emergency law requiring pharmacists to fill contraceptive prescriptions without delay. Women across the nation salute him for this courageous action and hope more governors in others in all fifty states will follow suit. It is necessary for all Governors, Senators and Congressmen to do the same, before religious policy-makers succeed in turning this "conscience clause" into law. If that happens, we will truly be back in the Dark Ages of back-alley abortions, due to the refusal of these moralistic pharmacists to provide the contraception written for them by their doctors, and may remain there for many years to come.

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