Staff Report
A court in Washington is poised to decide whether pharmacists should be forced to violate their religious beliefs at the command of the state or go out of business. Wednesday’s closing arguments in Stormans v. Selecky wrangled over whether pharmacists should be compelled to stock and dispense “morning-after” drugs. The ruling will signal whether America is still a land that supports individual liberty and freedom of conscience.
In 2006, Washington’s State Board of Pharmacy unanimously agreed that pharmacists with religious objections to providing emergency contraceptives/abortifacients like Plan B or ella could refer patients to nearby suppliers. However, leftist Gov. Christine Gregoire intervened. Promising to help the board come to “the right answer” after their “mistake,” she replaced several members with local Planned Parenthood and NARAL leaders. Unsurprisingly, the board subsequently decided that pharmacies in the Evergreen State must stock and dispense Plan B and ella regardless of whether compliance translated to forcing unwilling pharmacists to be complicit – in their view – in ending human life.
