Ill. Appeals Court Rules That Pharmacists May Refuse To Dispense Emergency Contraception

September 24, 2012 — An Illinois appellate court on Friday upheld a lower court ruling that the state cannot require pharmacies and pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception, Reuters reports (Wisniewski, Reuters, 9/21).

In an April 2011 ruling, Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Belz said that the Illinois Healthcare Right of Conscience Act and the First Amendment protect pharmacies and pharmacists who refuse to perform services on moral grounds. The case was brought by two pharmacy owners who objected to providing EC based on their religious beliefs. The decision struck down a 2005 state rule that required Illinois pharmacies to dispense EC (Women's Health Policy Report, 4/6/11).

Friday's ruling applies only to the pharmacists involved in the lawsuit. However, Francis Manion, an attorney for the plaintiffs and senior counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice, said that "the precedent that this will set in the state of Illinois means that the state is not going to go after a pharmacist that exercises conscientious objection when they know the court has ruled this way in the case" (Shelton, Chicago Tribune, 9/22).

Ed Yohnka, a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said, "We are dismayed that the court expressly refused to consider the interests of women who are seeking lawful prescription medication and essentially held that the religious practice of individuals trumps women's health care" (Reuters, 9/21).