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A Washington federal court judge has granted a preliminary injunction motion that was requested by two Christian pharmacists and a pharmacy owner.The three filed a suit last year in federal court against the Washington State Pharmacy Board and the state's Human Rights Commission. They sought the injunction in order to continue exercising their right of conscience-in their refusal to sell abortion-inducing drugs-until their lawsuit reaches trial. (See earlier article)Attorney Kristen Waggoner says the suit was filed after her clients-Rhonda Mesler, Margo Thelen, and pharmacy Stormans, Inc.-wrote the Pharmacy Board in 2006 asking them to consider their moral and religious objections. But when the board members appeared ready to accommodate, she explains, Governor Christine Gregoire threatened the board with termination. In response, the board wrote regulations that denied moral and religious objections."You don't make the military combatant go out and do that [when they object on those grounds]; you don't make the doctor inject pharmaceuticals in lethal injections. So why are we making healthcare providers take human life?" questions Waggoner.A judge's ruling has halted the state regulation while the case goes forward, allowing Waggoner's clients, and other professional colleagues, to refer requests for abortafacients to other providers.Waggoner says the pharmacists are ultimately looking for the court to rule that the state's regulations denying religious and moral objections are unconstitutional. The preliminary ruling achieves the first part of that objective.As in the days of Noah....
