Mike Koelzer is the pharmacist who has been featured on ABC World News and written about in The Washington Post and USAToday.com.
Why? Because Mike stopped selling all forms of contraceptives at his pharmacy.
As a child, Mike had dreams of becoming a pharmacist just like his dad. Mike began his own road to becoming a pharmacist in 1984 by studying pre-pharmacy during his first two years of college. After taking a year off from pharmacy studies to discern a potential calling to the priesthood at the Redemptorist seminary in St. Louis, MO, Mike returned to continue his pharmacy studies at Purdue University. He graduated from pharmacy school in 1991, and joined his father; working side-by-side with his hero, mentor and friend at Kay Pharmacy, their family-owned pharmacy.
Mike married his college sweetheart that same year.After nearly seven years of working in the pharmacy with his father, Mike was surprised to find out from a friend that birth control pills could act as abortifacients. After much scientific research, prayer and studying the Catholic Church’s teaching on contraception, Mike decided to approach his father with this information to see if his dad would agree to stop selling contraceptives. The response Mike received from his father was a disappointing “no”.?? But that is only the beginning to his amazing story, and one that would catch national attention and shake the country .