Seattle, Jul 27, 2007 / 08:47 am (CNA).- Pharmacists have sued Washington state over a new regulation that requires them to sell emergency contraception, also known as the "morning-after pill,” because it contains no exception for those who object on the basis of belief or conscience.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday, pharmacists Rhonda Mesler and Margo Thelen, and Stormans Inc., said the rule that took effect Thursday violates their civil rights by forcing them into choosing between "their livelihoods and their deeply held religious and moral beliefs."
"The stakes really couldn't be much higher," plaintiffs' attorney Kristen Waggoner said.
Earlier this year, the state ruled that druggists who believe emergency contraceptives are tantamount to abortion cannot stand in the way of a patient's “right” to the drugs.
These patient's can go somewhere else to practice their "right" to kill off their own children. There's nothing to stop them from taking that "right" to another pharmacy.
It is ridiculous that the state of Washington would so blatantly infringe on the pharmacists' freedom of religion. That freedom of religion is explicitly guaranteed by the 1st Amendment and applied to the states through the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, as opposed to a supposed "right" given by an activist court writing its own de facto legislation. It is about time that someone finally challenged state laws forcing pharmacists to sell abortive medication.
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