Pharmacy Won't Back Down In Morning-After Pill Case

A Washington state family-owned pharmacy and two pharmacists are fighting for the right to refuse to dispense the morning-after pill.
   
On Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Stormans v. Wiesman.  The case challenges the state of Washington's decision to force pharmacists to sell emergency contraceptives, even if their religious beliefs prohibit it.
  
The pharmacists originally sued the state in 2007, arguing that its regulation violated their constitutional religious rights. 
   
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represents the pharmacists. 

"The plaintiffs willingly refer patients to over 30 pharmacies that stock the morning-after pill within a 5-mile radius and no patient has ever been denied timely access to any drug," Luke Goodrich, deputy general counsel of the Becket Fund, said
  
In 2012, a federal court in Washington struck down the state's regulation, calling it unconstitutional.  The state is now appealing that ruling at the 9th Circuit.