‘Morning-after’ prescription trial set to begin Monday

OLYMPIA – A four-year legal fight over who must provide “morning-after” contraceptives such as Plan B lands in a federal courtroom Monday, testing Washington state Pharmacy Board rules requiring pharmacies to dispense any medication for which there is a community demand.

At issue in the U.S. District Court trial is the right of the Ralph’s Thriftway pharmacy in Olympia, and licensed Washington pharmacists Margo Thelen and Rhonda Mesler, to refuse to stock or dispense a lawful medical treatment on grounds of religious conscience. Plan B is considered most effective in preventing an unwanted pregnancy if a woman takes it within 72 hours after unprotected sex.

The state Pharmacy Board has had a rule since 1967 requiring pharmacies to stock and provide medications that are in demand in their communities. Gov. Chris Gregoire and reproductive-rights groups favor the requirements, which have been amended since 2007 to let pharmacists withdraw if others can fill the order.

But Stormans Inc., owner of Ralph’s, also is objecting to stocking the medications.

“All our family wants is the chance to keep doing what Ralph’s Thriftway has aimed to do for four generations: to serve our customers in keeping with our deepest values,” Kevin Stormans, a co-owner of Stormans Inc., argued in a news release issued last week by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C.

The Becket Fund, which is handling the case for Stormans and the pharmacists, describes itself as “a nonprofit, nonpartisan law firm that protects the religious liberty of all faiths.”

Staffers for Attorney General Rob McKenna are defending the Department of Health, agency Secretary Mary Selecky, and the state law, which applies to all medications including those to treat AIDS or any other condition that might draw moral objections.

“The state will argue the rules are neutral, generally applicable and rationally relating to the legitimate interest of the state in promoting timely delivery of lawful medication. The plain language of the rules applies to all time-sensitive medications,” said Janelle Guthrie, a spokeswoman for McKenna, a Republican.