Supreme Court rejects pharmacists' religious rights appeal

[n2doc]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing Washington state to require pharmacies to dispense Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, rejecting an appeal from pharmacists who said they have religious objections to providing the drugs.

The justices' order on Tuesday leaves in place rules first adopted in 2007 following reports that some women had been denied access to emergency contraceptives that are effective when taken within a few days of unprotected sex. Pharmacies must fill lawful prescriptions, but individual pharmacists with moral objections can refer patients to another pharmacist at the same store.

A Ralph's Thriftway pharmacy in Olympia, Washington, and two pharmacists sued, saying the rules required them to violate their religious beliefs.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have heard the appeal.

http://bigstory.ap.org/05b49047c451448aace27430c01fc04a

Roberts and the RW'ers must be getting soooo frustrated.....

[surrealAmerican]

1. more good news

k & r

[Sam_Fields]

2. I'm sorry you're bleeding to death but my religion doesn't allow stiching wounds

Allowing people that want to be medical professionals to refuse medical care to the sick and dying because of their religion is immoral

[mercuryblues]

3. Are women's

rights finally taking precedence over religious bigotry? I am beginning to think Scalia had more influence over the court than the Chief Justice.

[Surya Gayatri]

4. So I said in another thread. Seems the female justices are

really asserting themselves in the absence of Scalia.

MORE WOMEN ON THE SCOTUS!!!

[Orrex]

5. Wow.

Think of what a Scalia-free SCOTUS might have accomplished if it had been in place for Obama's entire term.

[smirkymonkey]

6. We are really beginning to see what kind of influence a religious, activist

judge had on the laws of this land now that he is gone.

[Raster]

7. You mean the justice from opus dei?

Mr. Anton "No judicial activism unless it's something I want to be activist about" Scalia?

The Clarence Thomas dog walker?

[ProfessorGAC]

11. You Nailed It!

There was no more activist jurist, EVER, than Tony. People like Earl Warren and Thurgood Marshall pale by comparison.

[Raster]

16. Yes, and actively thumbed his nose AT ANYONE that would/could question his motives...

Fat Tony was placed on the SCOTUS for two purposes: to be as obstructive and limiting as possible and to maintain the uber-conservative slant to the Court by any means necessary.

Scalia criticized anyone whom he considered "activist," yet to this day is probably the most activist judge to sit the bench in my lifetime.

Good riddance.

[ProfessorGAC]

29. Good Riddance, Indeed!

I'm with ya!

[rurallib]

8. Looks like Ralph's Thriftway in Olympia Washington will have a couple openings

for pharmacists willing yo do the job expected.

Edit to add - those pharmacists should now look for work that conforms to their religious belief, not expecting the jobs to be accomdated to their religious belief. It makes sense to accommodate someone's physical disability, but if their disability is their set of beliefs then the job should not have to change for them.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. There's Always Barber College

Yeah, i stole that line from Roadhouse.

[47of74]

22. College?! Barber or clown?

I just remembered that from The Simpsons...

[Wounded Bear]

14. Unfortunately, there are many Catholic hospitals for them to go to.

They own nearly 40% of healthcare in WA state IIRC.

They lost another ruling recently, though, on the abortion issue. So, maybe there is hope.

[rurallib]

9. sort of looking like the strategy of not confirming a new justice

is blowing up in Grassley & McConnell's ugly faces.

[47of74]

23. And I am hoping that come Janaury it'll be EX Senator Grassley.

[niyad]

10. are we finally seeing some sanity coming out of scotus when it comes to women's rights?

[skepticscott]

13. It's been a sucky week in court

for right wing fundy nutbags. Let's be sure it continues..elect a Democratic president, and flip the Senate, and Scalia and Thomas' seats will turn far more liberal for the next 20-30 years.

[gratuitous]

15. That's odd

Under Hobby Lobby, a corporation can have sincerely held religious beliefs (even when those beliefs are in conflict with reality), and its employees have to adopt those beliefs as their own. Now the Supreme Court is saying that individuals who hold those very same sincerely held religious beliefs aren't entitled to the same protections?

I think Hobby Lobby was completely wrong, but taking that decision in conjunction with the Court's declining to hear a case to apply the same standard for individuals means there's a glaring contradiction in rulings, one that favors the "rights" of corporations over the rights of individuals. Either the Court is going to reverse itself on Hobby Lobby and that right soon, or the right of a corporation to practice its sincerely held religious belief is elevated the right of an individual to practice his or her sincerely held religious belief.

[TeamPooka]

19. In the Robetrts court Corporations > people

[SickOfTheOnePct]

32. Individuals can still practice their religious beliefs under this ruling

The law in question allows a pharmacist to refuse to fill a prescription, but he or she must refer the patient to another pharmacist in the same pharmacy. It forces the pharmacy to fill the prescription, not the individual.

[mcar]

17. Another great decision

Thank you SCOTUS!

[TeamPooka]

18. Haha do your job.

[tallahasseedem]

20. Thank heavens...

this issue really bugged me. Good on the Supreme Court, once again!

[47of74]

21. Yeah do your goddamn job pharmacists or find a new field.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

24. Individual pharmacists still don't have to dispense drugs they find objectionable

Under the Washington law, they must refer the patient to another pharmacist in the same pharmacy, which is a very valid compromise, IMO.

Pharmacists retain their religious rights, and the patient retains the right to obtain legally prescribed medication at the pharmacy of his or her choice.

[REP]

25. Kicking this bad boy back up

Because we could all use more good news.

[RKP5637]

26. Excellent!!! K&R!!! n/t

[riversedge]

27. As it should be. Thank you SC.

[AllyCat]

28. Then get a different job.

If you can't do the job you were hired to do, quit and gpfind something you CAN do.

[Hekate]

30. Scalia's dead & gone, & there's 3 women on the Court. Tra la, tra la, tra la.

I cannot tell you how happy this ruling makes me feel.

[Hekate]

31. Kick