A U.S. District Court judge in Seattle has ruled that pharmacists can deny women legal prescriptions for family planning if s/he has religious opposition to contraceptives.
Judge Ronald Leighton ruled on Feb. 15 that pharmacists and drug store owners in Washington state can refuse to sell “Plan B,” an emergency contraceptive that can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
Leighton’s decision comes at the heels of a report by NARAL Pro-Choice Washington’s Emergency Contraception Access Project, which showed that 10 percent of Washington pharmacies either do not stock or have a pharmacist on staff who refuses to dispense “Plan B,” the so-called morning-after pill.
Among that 10 percent were two druggists and an Olympia pharmacy owner who filed suit last summer requesting an exemption from state rules that mandated they dispense all legal medications, even if they objected on moral grounds. The druggists said the state rule violated their constitutional religious rights.
Leighton agreed, and his ruling means that pharmacists’ moral or religious views can outweigh a woman’s legal right to this form of birth control.
Is this really 2008???!!! Geez! You don’t have to be a card-carrying NARAL member like me to enraged about this!
Tags: birth control, contraception, contraceptive, feminist, misogyny, morning-after-pill, naral, plan b, pro-choice, women
