SCOTUS Favors (Some Kinds of) Discrimination, States Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)

TUCSON, Ariz., June 30, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from the Ninth Circuit decision that allows the State of Washington to destroy the livelihood of a pharmacist for refusing to stock Plan B birth-control drugs. "This decision is an assault on the freedom of all Americans to decline to take actions that violate their conscience," stated Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which filed an amicus brief supporting the pharmacists in Stormans v. Wiesman. 

Pharmacists are not required to supply any drug that a patient might want. They do not stock certain drugs for a variety of reasons, for example, because they are not profitable. They refer customers to other pharmacies, as did the Stormans family, which owns Ralph's Thriftway in Olympia, Washington, and two other pharmacists, when they learned that Plan B drugs may act as abortifacients. There are about 30 pharmacies within 5 miles of Ralph's where patients can obtain Plan B. Not a single customer was unable to obtain timely access to the drug.

Conscience-based referrals are lawful in 49 other states. The Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire, who was in office from 2005 to 2013, replaced the chairman of the Washington Pharmacy Commission and appointed two members recommended by Planned Parenthood, and both Governor Gregoire and Planned Parenthood pressured the Commission to deny the right of pharmacists to refer customers elsewhere for Plan B and ella because of moral objections. Ultimately, Planned Parenthood prevailed.

Three Justices (Samuel Alito, John Roberts, and Clarence Thomas) dissented from the decision to deny writ of certiorari. Alito wrote: "This case is an ominous sign…. There are strong reasons to doubt whether the regulations were adopted for—or that they actually serve—any legitimate purpose. And there is much evidence that the impetus for the adoption of the regulations was hostility to pharmacists whose religious beliefs regarding abortion and contraception are out of step with prevailing opinion in the State."

"The highest court in the U.S. has refused to intervene as bureaucrats dictate that medical professionals must either abandon their profession or serve as accomplices for what they believe to be murder," Dr. Orient stated. "Whatever you believe about abortion, you should be appalled at the government seizing this kind of power. Discrimination on the basis of faith violates the First Amendment."

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, founded in 1943.

SOURCE Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)

Related Links

http://www.aapsonline.org