Justices could hear pharmacists' case on refusing to fill Rx over religious beliefs

The US Supreme Court may first announce whether to proceed with lawsuits including Washington state regulations on Monday and pharmacies said they can not refuse prescription drugs because of their own religious beliefs There.

The National Pharmacy and State Pharmacy Association stated that this regulation weakened the ability to choose which medicines to preserve. They say that this may also force the pharmacist to violate their own conscience like providing emergency contraceptives

The Washington Pharmacy Board believes that as long as the pharmacy guarantees that the pharmacy receives prescription drugs in a timely manner, the rules will still allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for religious reasons. But this discussion generally has a problem because only one pharmacist is always working at a pharmacy at all times Luke Goodrich is a lawyer at the Beckett Religious Freedom Foundation and is representative of the person who filed the lawsuit . He stated that if the first medicine was rejected it was not so easy for the pharmacy to find another pharmacist and provide medicine.

"If this decision is allowed, I think that you will see an abortion rights organization that is pursuing similar regulations in other states," Goodrich said. He said that Washington is the only state with such rules.

The two pharmacies who filed lawsuits and their pharmacies said that the rules endanger their work and business

Thirteen states and groups, including the American Pharmacists Association, Department of Management Nursing, 33 national pharmacies, etc., have submitted briefings to support pharmacists.

The lawsuit between the pharmacist and the taxi driver is very similar, but it showed very different responses in the public domain. The pharmacist refuses to fill prescriptions that are widely considered to be conscientious, worthy, or protected expression. The pharmacist found many allies in many state legislatures, enacted laws at these state legislatures, and in some states passed legislation and rejected pharmacists' refusal to provide services that violate their religious beliefs Protected. In most cases, these invoices do not prescribe the protection of customers' rights.

It is closely related to the conscience clause of abortion that pharmacists can refuse to fill prescriptions of so-called abortion drugs, including contraceptives that may conflict with their religious beliefs, Right "law. Conscience phrases have been developed in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Washington, but conscience phrases have been adopted There are things. Patchwork of various methods. Some states actually put an active obligation to distribute emergency contraceptives to pharmacists, but Federal Court of Washington, Stormans Inc. v. Selecky, 844 F. Supp. 2d 1172 (W. D. Wash. 2012), and Illinois, Menges v. Blagojevich, 451 F. Sup. 2d 992 (C.D.Ill. 2006) found that such mission violated the Freedom of Execution of the First Amendment and the Equality Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment