Judge says Wash. can't make pharmacies sell Plan B

[Carol]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101458477

Star Member maddezmom (125,664 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

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Judge says Wash. can't make pharmacies sell Plan B
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Washington state cannot force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the state's true goal was to suppress religious objections by druggists — not to promote timely access to the medicines for people who need them.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton heard closing arguments earlier this month in a lawsuit that claimed state rules violate the constitutional rights of pharmacists by requiring them to dispense such medicine. The state requires pharmacies to dispense any medication for which there is a community need and to stock a representative assortment of drugs needed by their patients.

Ralph's Thriftway in Olympia, Wash., and two licensed Washington pharmacists sued in 2007, saying that dispensing Plan B would infringe on their religious beliefs because it can prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg, an act they equate with taking human life.

The state argued that the requirements are legal because they apply neutrally to all medicines and pharmacies, and that they promote a government interest — the timely delivery of medicine, including Plan B, which becomes less effective as time passes.



Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/articl...ys-Wash-can-t-

make-pharmacies-sell-Plan-B-3349010.php#ixzz1n9ivsH5H
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Justice wanted (1,120 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
1. Another blow to woman's rights and health safety.

Star Member BadgerKid (3,289 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
6. Pharmacists aren't licensed medical doctors.

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How can they prove there was an egg released AND it got fertilized?

NC_Nurse (11,424 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
8. When did "religious freedom" become the right to impose your beliefs on others?

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Nobody's making THEM take these drugs. Why are they allowed to decide when someone else should or shouldn't follow THEIR religion.

This trend is such bullshit.

Star Member Deep13 (35,054 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
9. I predict the 9th will overrule him.

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Funny how the patient has to bear the cost of the druggist's religious objections.

Star Member BOHICA12 (355 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
11. Is there any single product or item that statute can require a business to sell?

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I can't think of one. Maybe some insurance instruments, but not any physical product.

niyad (18,281 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
25. a pharmacist is not the same thing as a tire dealer.

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the products are prescription drugs, and people's lives depend on them. there is nothing in their training that says they get to impose their religious beliefs on other people's lives.

I truly hope you are not a pharmacist, or in any other profession that impacts women's lives and health.

Star Member BOHICA12 (355 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
27. People's lives don't depend on tires?

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But if you own a pharmacy - you are the merchant - you determine the products you will sell and the products you won't sell. Dang, what is it about freedom and personal choice is so hard to understand? Your business will either prosper or suffer based on your decisions - as it should.

If we could figure out decent security, most pharmaceutical transactions could be carried out by a vending machine. Let's not elevate them too high.

Star Member saras (5,015 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
21. The judge was half right

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"the state's true goal was to suppress religious objections by druggists"

Yes, this is the state's completely legal, legitimate, mandated-by-the-Constitution goal. It's an admirable goal, and most of the population wants the state to succeed at it.

It's no more appropriate than a fire truck refusing to put out your house fire because you support a different football team than they do.

Star Member Skittles (78,603 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
24. WTF

if these pious sanctimonious HYPOCRITICAL pieces of SHIT are unable to perform their duties as a pharmacist THEY NEED TO FIND ANOTHER LINE OF WORK

[NJCardFan]

Justice wanted (1,120 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
1. Another blow to woman's rights and health safety.

So a private pharmacy's rights should be subjugated in the name of women's rights? Um, ok. Oh, did I mention that if one store doesn't have you want, you are free to try somewhere else?

[Apache]

Ya know if DUmmies were capable of even the most basic critical thinking they could save themselves all this fake indignation...


There are other pharmacies that would gladly sell the morning after pill. Which, in no way, is a life or death script.


Oh, and BOHICA, bohica... keep upsetting the collective and ye shall receive thee a granite nap...

[Apache]

So a private pharmacy's rights should be subjugated in the name of women's rights? Um, ok. Oh, did I mention that if one store doesn't have you want, you are free to try somewhere else?

Beat me to the punch... it just reaffirms my contention of the DUmmie thought process.

[Dan D. Doty]

So a private pharmacy's rights should be subjugated in the name of women's rights? Um, ok. Oh, did I mention that if one store doesn't have you want, you are free to try somewhere else?

It seems lately that the Moonbats have a great deal of diffculty with The Bill Of Rights.

Now they think its State's job to override your rights, if they ( Moonbats) want something.

[MountainMan]

So a private pharmacy's rights should be subjugated in the name of women's rights? Um, ok. Oh, did I mention that if one store doesn't have you want, you are free to try somewhere else?

Funny you mention that. The original pharmacy that brought the suit had NO PROBLEM directing those women who wanted the pro-abortion pill to local pharmacies that were within 5 miles of their own shop. BTW, there were at least five other locations that met this criteria.

[noonwitch]

I don't think Plan B/ the morning after pill should be available OTC because a physician should examine a woman before she takes something that could cause serious side effects. The WMU Health Center used to prescribe this all the time to stupid girls who went out drinking and screwing without protection. The girls were sick for a few days after taking it-heavy bleeding, cramping, things that were enough to interfere with school and social life for a few days. A young woman with a condition that causes excessive bleeding could face some serious risks if she used this drug without medical supervision at some level.

So, imo, the ethical and first amendment issues shouldn't even matter, because I believe that this is a drug that should exclusively be prescribed by a physician who has examined the woman she is prescribing it for.

[Arroyo_Doble]

United States v Lee

Congress and the courts have been sensitive to the needs flowing from the Free Exercise Clause, but every person cannot be shielded from all the burdens incident to exercising every aspect of the right to practice religious beliefs. When followers of a particular sect enter into commercial activity as a matter of choice, the limits they accept on their own conduct as a matter of conscience and faith are not to be superimposed on the statutory schemes which are binding on others in that activity.

[Apache]

United States v Lee

Congress and the courts have been sensitive to the needs flowing from the Free Exercise Clause, but every person cannot be shielded from all the burdens incident to exercising every aspect of the right to practice religious beliefs. When followers of a particular sect enter into commercial activity as a matter of choice, the limits they accept on their own conduct as a matter of conscience and faith are not to be superimposed on the statutory schemes which are binding on others in that activity.

You might have a point, if they were the only pharmacy in the state. But alas, they were not. This is a case of the state trampling rights...

Ok bye-bye now

[Arroyo_Doble]

You might have a point, if they were the only pharmacy in the state. But alas, they were not. This is a case of the state trampling rights...

Ok bye-bye now

Bye.