I have to admit, this is not one that I would have expected, coming out of Washington State
SEATTLE (AP) - A federal judge has suspended Washington state’s requirement that pharmacists sell “morning-after” birth control pills, a victory for druggists who claim their moral objections to the drug are being bulldozed by the government.
In an injunction signed Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton said pharmacists can refuse to sell the morning-after pill if they refer the customer to another nearby source. Pharmacists’ employers also are protected by the order.
All over the country accomodations are being made for Muslims following their religious practices and beliefs. Cab drivers refusing to carry customers with alcohol or dogs, clerks refusing to sell pork products, packing plant workers demanding breaks timed for their prayer times, footbaths installed at airports and colleges… we won’t discuss the incidences of looking the other way for things like polygamy, child marriages, wife beating, or slavery… but in Washington State, if a pharmacist objected to selling the so-called Morning After Pill, or Plan B pill, he was barred from doing that by government order.
Under pressure from Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, state regulators this year ruled that druggists couldn’t withhold any prescription because of their personal objections.
Say what you will about the arguments over Christmas decorations and Ten Commandments monuments in public, I can think of few instances that more clearly violate the “free exercise” of someone’s religious convictions than forcing them to sell a product they believe takes a human life. Make allowances in the public square as much as public safety and security will allow. The law that EVERY druggist is required to dispense this drug by State statute is based, not on public safety or security needs, but by a secular and permissive worldview with enough political power to have its own way. With a Wal-mart on every corner, a Walgreens between each one of those, and a pharmacy in every large grocery store, there is hardly a pressing public need to force an individual pharmacist with a religious and moral conviction against this drug to act in a way that violates his conscience so thoroughly, or puts him in jeopardy of losing his livelihood. And surprise of surprises, a judge in Washington State seems to agree.
Two pharmacists and a drugstore owner sued the state in July over the new rule, saying it violates their civil rights. They asked the judge to halt forced Plan B sales while the lawsuit is in play.
“On the issue of free exercise of religion alone, the evidence before the court convinces it that plaintiffs … have demonstrated both a likelihood of success on the merits and the possibility of irreparable injury,” Leighton wrote.
Grown-ups prevail. This time.
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