Lawsuit argues 'conscientious objector' status includes pro-life pharmacists

Lawsuit argues 'conscientious objector' status includes pro-life pharmacists

Attorneys for pharmacists in the state of Washington have appeared before a federal court on behalf of their clients' request to refuse distribution or supplying of abortion-inducing drugs in their pharmacies.

Legal counsel for two Christian pharmacists and a pharmacy owner appeared in U.S. District Court last week to argue for a preliminary injunction allowing them to continue exercising their right of conscience until their lawsuit reaches trial. The three plaintiffs have filed suit against the Washington State Pharmacy Board and the state's Human Rights Commission.

Attorney Kristen Waggoner of Alliance Defense Fund says her clients -- Rhonda Mesler, Margo Thelen, and pharmacy Stormans, Inc. -- originally wrote to the Pharmacy Board in 2006 asking for consideration of their moral and religious objections. However, Governor Christine Gregoire threatened Board members with termination when the Board appeared ready to accommodate.

"So, as you can imagine, a few days later, their position changed," says the attorney. "And now they have passed regulations that remove any right of conscience for healthcare providers, which [includes] pharmacists and pharmacies," she adds.

Waggoner says the pharmacists are ultimately looking for the court to rule that the application of the state's regulations are unconstitutional, because they violate free exercise and equal protection rights granted to conscientious objectors who are exempted from military service. They want such a ruling to cover all healthcare providers with religious-based objections.

"I think it is important to understand [that] the root of conscientious objection is found in [the admonition] don't make people take human life against their wish," she explains. "You don't make the military combatant go out and do that, you don't make the doctor inject pharmaceuticals in lethal injections -- so why are we making healthcare providers take human life?" questions Waggoner.

She says the state's Human Rights Commission wrote an 11-page position statement alleging any denial of distribution of contraceptives by pharmacists was equivalent to gender discrimination.