If you believe abortion is immoral, would you work at an
abortion clinic? If you believe smoking should be banned, would you work at
Marlboro? If you miss the good old days of the Prohibition, would you work for
Budweiser? If you answered “no” to any of these questions, brace
yourself.

Neil Noesen is a Menomonie pharmacist who used to work for
Kmart. When he applied for the job, he did not disclose the fact that he
objected to the sale or use of contraceptives. In 2002, he was the only
pharmacist on site during a night shift. A University of Wisconsin-Stout
student came in to get her prescription of contraceptives filled, and Mr.
Noesen refused to fill it.

Not only did he refuse to fill out the prescription himself,
but he also refused to disclose the information necessary for the student to
fill her prescription elsewhere. He insisted on his stance even after the
police came with the student, claiming that filling the prescription would
violate his “right of conscience.”

In 2005, The Pharmacy Examining Board reprimanded Mr. Noesen
for unprofessional conduct and ordered him to, among other things, inform all
his future employers of his objection to contraceptives and how he would deal
with a similar situation, should it arise. He appealed the decision, it was
upheld, and now he is appealing to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

As the law stands, contraceptives are legal, and at
pharmacies that sell contraceptives, a pharmacist is expected to fill
prescriptions for them. So, what is a pharmacist to do if he or she has a moral
objection to contraceptives? How about this novel solution: Don’t work at a
pharmacy that sells contraceptives. Or, at the very least, a pharmacist should
inform his employers of his objections so the situation can be appropriately
accommodated.

Another option could be that Mr. Noesen could work to
influence the legislative process by lobbying to have laws passed that favor
his position on contraceptives. But what he did was completely unprofessional,
as found by the Pharmacy Examining Board.

Yet Mr. Noesen and those who support him show no intention
of backing down even though it’s been six years since the incident. This seems
to be caused partly by the effect the rulings have had on Mr. Noesen’s career.
He claims that due to the ruling, he has lost his malpractice insurance and
that employers are reluctant to hire him. Was he expecting something else?

But this isn’t the only reason this fiasco has gone on for
so long. It has also become a highly politicized issue, with anti-abortion
organizations like the American Life League and Pharmacists for Life on Mr.
Noesen’s side and Planned Parenthood on the other. It has been blown way out of
proportion and into another battleground between anti-abortion and abortion
rights groups. The involvement of these groups has only served to further
inflame the situation and prolong this mess.

Even though this is a clear-cut case by all measures,
anti-abortion groups just don’t seem to know when to pick their battles. Just
because Mr. Noesen is anti-abortion does not mean that he is right, and
anti-abortion groups should realize that. They should also realize that
aligning themselves with Mr. Noesen weakens the credibility of all they stand
for.

For example, Paul Linton of the Thomas More Society — the
group that filed the appeal on behalf of Mr. Noesen — said: “Mr. Noesen
is being punished for refusing to compromise his beliefs.” This is
completely untrue, and the fact that Mr. Linton would say that just weakens the
legitimacy of his organization.

What abortion rights groups did, which was to portray this
ruling as a victory for their side, is not the correct decision either. Both
these sides need to understand that this is not about anti-abortion or abortion
rights, it’s about a person’s failure to perform his job to the standards of
his employer.

The trend of anti-abortion and abortion rights groups
jumping on every case and example that has the slightest relevance to their
positions, and blindly advocating or opposing it, must stop. Not only for the
sake of the strength of their positions, but also for the sake of taxpayers who
have been footing the bill for these fiascos all the while.

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Ammar Al Marzouqi ([email protected]) is a
freshman majoring in computer engineering.