The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to immediately reinstate Washington’s rule that religious beliefs can’t block sales of the so-called “morning-after pill.”
A federal judge in Tacoma suspended the rule last fall, after pharmacists and a drug store owner sued due to their religious objections to “morning-after” birth control’s interference with conception. The state ruled in early 2007 that druggists who believe emergency contraceptives are tantamount to abortion can’t stand in the way of a patient’s right to the drugs.
The state and supporters wanted federal appeals judges to lift the suspension while it’s being challenged, but a 9th Circuit panel of judges refused on a 2-1 decision.
Sold as Plan B, emergency contraception is a high dose of the drug found in many regular birth-control pills. It can lower the risk of pregnancy by as much as 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. Some critics consider the pill related to abortion, although it is different from the abortion pill RU-486 and has no effect on women who already are pregnant.
The federal Food and Drug Administration made the morning-after pill available over the counter to adults in 2006.
The Washington Board of Pharmacy says the decision to make pharmacists distribute prescriptions despite their beliefs was for all drugs, not just Plan B.
