Copley News Service - ACLJ Seeks to Invalidate Rule Requiring Pharmacists to Dispense Morning-After Pill
December 21, 2005
By Mary Massingale,
Copley News Service
SPRINGFIELD - A group founded by evangelist Pat Robertson has sued Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and a state regulatory agency over the governor's rule requiring pharmacists to dispense emergency contraceptives, despite their religious beliefs.
The Washington, D.C.-based legal American Center for Law and Justice is seeking to stop enforcement of the rule in representing seven Illinois pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for the morning-after pill. Marketed in the United States as Plan B, the medication is essentially a high-dosage birth-control pill that can prevent pregnancy for up to 72 hours after sex.
The federal lawsuit contends Blagojevich's rule violates the pharmacists' First Amendment rights, as well as the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act.
"The governor ought to be concerned with protecting the rights of all citizens of Illinois and not just one side of a controversial issue," said Frank Manion, the ACLJ lead attorney on the lawsuit.
Blagojevich spurred a moral debate in April when he issued an emergency rule requiring Illinois pharmacies that sell contraceptives to dispense the morning-after pill. He filed the rule after a Chicago pharmacist refused to fill such prescriptions because of moral opposition. A bipartisan legislative panel in May upheld the rule, and it was made permanent in August.
Pharmacists believe they are included among the "health-care personnel" allowed to refuse to "act contrary to their conscience" in the delivery of health care, as outlined in the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act. Some pharmacists believe the morning-after pill causes a chemical abortion and oppose dispensing the medication because it conflicts with their religious beliefs.
The lawsuit names Blagojevich, acting Secretary Dean Martinez of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, and acting Professional Regulation division chief Daniel Bluthardt as defendants.
A Blagojevich spokeswoman said she had yet to see the lawsuit, but the rule is clear in stating that it applies only to pharmacies that sell contraceptives. Abby Ottenhoff said if pharmacists object to dispensing the morning-after pill, they could work in a pharmacy that does not sell contraceptives.
"The bottom line is ensuring that women have access to the medication their doctors say they need," Ottenhoff said.
Five of the plaintiffs worked for the Walgreens drugstore chain: John Menges, Richard Quayle, Carol Muzzarelli, Kelly Hubble and Melanie Antuma. Walgreens fired Antuma in September for refusing to fill a Plan B prescription. The Deerfield, Ill.-based company placed the other four on "unpaid, indefinite suspension" in November for refusing to agree to a new company policy requiring pharmacists to fill such prescriptions.
The other two plaintiffs - Jim Lynch and Amanda Varner - work for other pharmacies and have not been fired but have been "substantially burdened" by the rule, according to the lawsuit.
The ACLJ filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Springfield but had yet to pay the filing fee by close of business on Tuesday. The Springfield law firm of LaBarre, Young and Behnke is serving as co-counsel in the lawsuit.
The contraceptive rule has sparked a flurry of legal actions. The ACLJ in April filed a similar state lawsuit against the rule on behalf of Menges and Peggy Pace, another registered pharmacist. Pace has since taken a job with a pharmacy that does not sell contraceptives, Manion said.
Two other Illinois pharmacists backed by the conservative group Americans United for Life sued in Sangamon County over the rule in September, but a circuit judge denied their request for a restraining order.
Also in September, the IDFPR filed complaints against three pharmacies, including a Walgreens in West Peoria, for failing to fill prescriptions for Plan B.