Religious liberty gains Major Victory for Conscience Rights in Health Care
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. The case involves a family-owned pharmacy (Ralphs Thriftway) and two individual pharmacists (Margo Thelen & Rhonda Mesler) who say they cannot in good conscience dispense Plan B (the morning-after pill") or ella (the week-after pill"). Earlier today a federal court in Washington struck down a Washington law that requires pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill even when doing so would violate their religious beliefs.
The court held that the law violates the 1st Amendment right to free exercise of religion.
Im just thrilled that the court ruled to protect our constitutional right of conscience" said Ms. Thelen who has served as a pharmacist for 39 years. I was forced to leave a job I loved simply because of my deeply held religious convictions."
Todays decision sends a very clear message: No individual can be forced out of her profession solely because of her religious beliefs" said Luke Goodrich Deputy National Litigation Director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
A federal court in Tacoma Washington struck down a Washington law that requires pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill even when doing so would violate their religious beliefs. The court held that the law violates the 1st Amendment right to free exercise of religion.
The Becket Fund together with the Seattle-based law firm of Ellis Li & McKinstry represents the plaintiffs in the case. If the state allows pharmacies to refer patients elsewhere for economic business and convenience reasons it has to allow them to refer for reasons of conscience" 
added Mr. Goodrich.
The plaintiffs family-owned Ralphs Thriftway Pharmacy & pharmacists Margo Thelen and Rhonda Mesler cannot in good conscience dispense Plan B (the morning-after pill") or ella (the week-after pill"). These individuals believe that human life begins at the moment of fertilization and that these drugs destroy human life because they can operate by destroying a fertilized egg or embryo.
Rather than dispensing those drugs they refer patients to one of dozens of nearby pharmacies that stock and dispense them.
In 2007 the Washington State Board of Pharmacy passed new regulations making it illegal to refer patients to neighboring pharmacies for reasons of conscience despite allowing them to refer patients elsewhere for a wide variety of business economic or convenience reasons. Because of the regulations Margo Thelen lost her job; Rhonda Mesler was told she would have to transfer to another state; and Kevin Stormans the owner of Ralphs Thriftway faced repeated investigations and threats of punishment from the State Board of Pharmacy.
The Board of Pharmacys 2007 rules are not neutral and they are not generally applicable" the Court explained. They were designed instead to force religious objectors to dispense Plan B and they sought to do so despite the fact that refusals to deliver for all sorts of secular reasons were permitted."
Judge Leighton was appointed to the court in 2002. In September 2010 he struck down the militarys Dont Ask Dont Tell" policy and became the first judge in the country to order an openly gay service member to be reinstated in the military. The ruling was widely hailed by the ACLU and other gay-rights advocates.
The Washington regulations were passed under a cloud of controversy. In 2006 the State Board of Pharmacy unanimously voted to support a rule protecting pharmacists right of conscience. 
But when Governor Christine Gregoire learned of the vote she publicly threatened to fire the Boards members replaced several Board members with candidates screened by Planned Parenthood and personally joined in a boycott of Ralphs Thriftway.
Planned Parenthood then drafted a new version of the regulations which the Board adopted under pressure from the Governor. The regulations prohibit pharmacies from declining to dispense Plan B for reasons of conscienceeven though the Board found no evidence that anyone in the State had ever been unable to obtain Plan B (or any other time-sensitive medication) in a timely fashion because of religious objections.
The Boards regulations have been aimed at Plan B and conscientious objections from their inception" the court explained. Indeed Plaintiffs have presented reams of internal government documents demonstrating that the predominant purpose of the rule was to stamp out the right to refuse for religious reasons."
Washington is one of only two or three states in the country that requires pharmacies to stock and dispense emergency contraception in violation of conscience. One of the other states Illinois recently had its regulations which are modeled on Washingtons struck down as unconstitutional in a challenge brought by Becket Fund attorney Mark Rienzi.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions.
