The nation’s highest court will not hear arguments that a pharmacy has a religious freedom right to refuse to dispense certain forms of contraception.
The justices declined Stormans, Inc. v. Wiesman in late June. The court’s action is a major blow to the Religious Right, which had trumpeted the lawsuit as an important religious liberty case.
The owners of the pharmacy filed suit to request an exemption from a Washington state law that permits pharmacists to refuse to fill certain prescriptions only if another employee at the same pharmacy is willing to do so. The law prohibits pharmacies from refusing to fill the prescriptions altogether.
“A pharmacist’s personal religious beliefs must not be allowed to get between a patient and her doctor,” asserted AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn. “The Supreme Court did the right thing by refusing to hear this case.”
