Conscience & The Constitution

Give someone a microphone these days, and they become an expert on the United States Constitution. As witnessed by newly elected National Organization of Women president Terry O'Neill.

"Conscience clauses, where pharmacists refuse birth control sales because it's against their conscience, must go. Guess what? Women have a constitutional right to birth control. There is no constitutional right to be a pharmacist."

You know what, I believe the Constitution is extraordinarily silent on the issue of birth control. True the Supreme Court found a work-around this problem in the early '60s by determining that the general right to privacy allowed for personal birth control decisions.

I don't think the high court has ever forbidden anyone from becoming a pharmacist if they meet the eligibility requirements of a particular state.

It is chilling to hear someone talk in her terms. It is an open threat that, were I a progressive of some sort, would declare it to be a type of hate speech. Since I am not "progressive," I recognize she can say whatever she wants, and it is up to more clear-headed people to make the case for conscience clauses.

What is wrong with having a conscience? If you believe that birth control is immoral, or that certain methods are abortifacient, and this goes against your deeply held religious beliefs, you should not only refuse to fill such prescriptions, but you do damage to yourself if you do not. Yet these "all or nothing" types like O'Neill would rather have conscientious pharmacists driven from their livelihood -- with the loss of all the other good work that they do -- than to ask the next pharmacist, or another down the street, to fill their order.

Which gets us to the hard truth: the extremist does not want you to tolerate their position. Their positions are the only permissible positions. Their opinions, and consciences, are the only ones that matter. Yours are merely in the way. They wish to silence you, segregate you, and eliminate you from the arena of ideas.

Or from your career, if necessary.