Pharmacists Can Proceed With Challenge to Ill. Contraception Law

A federal judge has ruled that a group of Illinois pharmacists may move forward with a bid to strike down a new state rule requiring pharmacies to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception.

Five pharmacists who claim they were suspended by the Walgreens drugstore chain for refusing to dispense the so-called "morning-after pill" on religious and moral grounds sued Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich earlier this year, claiming that the rule violates their rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Blagojevich moved to dismiss the lawsuit, but U.S. District Judge Jeanne Scott of the Central District of Illinois denied that request.

Giving the case the go-ahead, she said the pharmacists might be able to prove that the rule is unfairly directed at them because of their beliefs.

"The plaintiffs' allegations, if true, may establish that the object of the rule is to target pharmacists, such as the plaintiffs, who have religious objections to emergency contraceptives, for the purpose of forcing them either to compromise their religious beliefs or to leave the practice of pharmacy," Judge Scott wrote. "Such an object is not religiously neutral."

Blagojevich signed the law last year in light of a growing number of complaints nationwide about pharmacies that were refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception.

The law requires pharmacies to accept and fill prescriptions for emergency contraceptives without delay. It also states that if the contraceptive, or a suitable alternative, is not in stock, the pharmacy must order it or transfer the prescription to another local pharmacy of the patient's choice.

If a druggist refuses to fill the prescription on moral or religious grounds, another pharmacist must be available to meet the patient's needs, according to the law.

The American Center for Law and Justice, a public advocacy group representing the suspended pharmacists in the case, says the law "substantially burdens the fundamental rights" enjoyed by the pharmacists under federal and state law.

The five pharmacists who were suspended by Walgreens for allegedly refusing to comply with the law are John Menges, Gaylord Richard Quayle, Carol Muzzarelli, Kelly Hubble and Melanie Antuma.

The ACLJ is also representing two other pharmacists, Jim Lynch and Amanda Varner, who have not been suspended from their jobs but say they have been "substantially burdened in their exercise of their religious beliefs" by the state law.

Recently Judge Scott also granted Walgreens' bid to intervene in the case after finding that the drugstore chain "clearly has an interest" in the outcome.

"Walgreens is a business that has an interest in maintaining good relations with both customers and its pharmacists and in complying with state and federal laws and regulations," Judge Scott wrote June 8. "The more absolute positions of the plaintiffs may be inconsistent with Walgreens' goals."

Menges, Quayle, Muzzarelli and Hubble, along with help from the ACLJ, have also filed separate state actions against Walgreens. The suits maintain that in firing them, the company violated the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act.

The law bars employers from discriminating against workers who refuse to "participate in any way in any form of health care services contrary to his or her conscience."