Neil Noesen, a pharmacist from Menomonie, Wis., appealed to the state Supreme Court Thursday after he was sanctioned for refusing to fill a woman’s birth-control prescription.
The decision of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, which upheld the ruling against Noesen on March 25, said he was the only pharmacist working at the Menomonie Kmart when he declined to fill the prescription in 2002.
According to the Associated Press, Noelsen denied the woman birth control because of his religious beliefs and said the ruling violates his “right of conscience” to refuse to provide birth control.
He also refused to disclose the relevant information needed to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy. As a result, Noesen was disciplined by the Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Alta Charo, a UW-Madison professor of law and bioethics, said the issue at hand is the fact that Noesen, a devout Roman Catholic, did not make his objection to contraceptives known to Kmart when he was hired.
Charo also said by declining to fill or transfer the prescription, Noesen essentially stole the prescription out of the patient’s hands and left the patient with no control over her own medication.
Michael Hichborne, the media director for the anti-abortion organization American Life League, said a Supreme Court decision in favor of the patient would be harmful to human rights across the country.
“To coerce somebody to do something within his job that he disbelieves or believes is wrong is tyrannical. It’s an infringement on his ability to live within the rights of his own conscience,” he said.
According to Nicole Safar, a legal and policy analyst with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Noesen’s refusal to fill the prescription was unprofessional and put the patient at risk.
“From Planned Parenthood’s perspective, we believe that the laws in Wisconsin that govern pharmacy are really clear on what the duties of a pharmacist are, and that is to dispense legal prescriptions, birth control being one of them,” she said.
If the case does go to the Supreme Court, Safar said she is unsure what the result would be. Justice Mike Gableman, a strong supporter of anti-abortion policies, was elected to the court in early April and begins his term August 1.
