Pharmacists File Petition to the US Supreme Court to Protect Their First Amendment Rights

A group of pharmacists is protesting against the law in which they are forced to stock abortion-inducing pills. They are petitioning Supreme Court to safeguard their First Amendment Rights. It is said that the secular rights are clashing with matters of faith.

One of the latest legal battles involves a 2007 Washington law requiring pharmacists to dispense all drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a pharmacy, Ralph's Thriftway which is owned Stormans family, and two phamacists, Margo Thelen and Rhonda Mesler, are being forced to stock and dispense abortion-inducing pills contrary to their religious beliefs instead of allowing them to refer customers to other pharmacies and pharmacists, a practice allowed in all other 49 states of the U.S.

Breitbart reports that the Stormans family and the two pharmacists has challenged the state law in a suit filed before a federal district court on the grounds that it violates the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. After five years, a federal judge ruled that the law violated the First Amendment. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the ruling. Thus on January 4, 2016 a petition for certiorari was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the jsutices to review the ruling of the Ninth Circuit.

According to CNS News the petition filed with the Supreme Court says that the Stormans family refuses to stock or dispense the morning-after or week-after pills (known as "Plan B" pills) because of their Christian beliefs. The petition points out that there are more than thirty pharmacies within five miles of Ralph's which carry Plan B. As well Plan B is available in nearby doctors' offices, government health centers and others.

One of the pharmacists in the petition, Margo Thelen, reportedly lost her job because of the law while the other pharmacist, Rhonda Mesler was reportedly threatened with losing her job. Washington is the only state the makes conscience-based referrals illegal.

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First Amendment, First Amendment case, United States, US Constitution, US Supreme Court, United States Supreme Court, abortion-inducing pills, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, rh law, US Pharmacy

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