[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] on Thursday ruled [opinion, PDF] that Washington state may force pharmacies to provide emergency contraceptives, such as Plan B. The decision overturns as 2012 ruling [JURIST report] by the US District Court for the Western District of Washington [official website] that deemed a Washington law [WAC § 246-869-010] that requiring pharmacies to sell such medications violates the pharmacists’ constitutional right to freedom of religion. Judge Susan P. Graber wrote for the three-judge panel:

Speed is particularly important considering the time-sensitive nature of emergency contraception and of many other medications… The time taken to travel to another pharmacy, especially in rural areas where pharmacies are sparse, may reduce the efficacy of those drugs. Additionally, testimony at trial demonstrated how facilitated referrals could lead to feelings of shame in the patient that could dissuade her from obtaining emergency contraception altogether.

The lawsuit was originally brought by a group of pharmacists who believed that the true goal of the law was to suppress religious objections as evidenced by its secular exemption language.

Contraceptives have been a controversial topic in the US for quite some time. This has been intensified with the 2014 Supreme Court ruling that for profit businesses that are “closely held” (i.e., owned by a small number of individuals) may be exempted [JURIST report] from the birth-control mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) if the owners had a religious objection to one or more mandated birth control devices or method. In May of this year the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that the University of Notre Dame shall not, at the time being, be exempted from the federal government’s birth control mandate. In April Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued a temporary stay [JURIST report] preventing the federal government from requiring the Roman Catholic dioceses and its affiliates in Pittsburgh and Erie, Pennsylvania to comply with the birth control mandates of the ACA. In November the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that religious non-profit groups’ rights were not violated when required to certify that they are opting out of the contraception mandate of the ACA.