Pro-Life Pharmacy Worker Wants Court to Cancel Contraceptive Order
by Mary Rettig
April 19, 2005
(AgapePress) - The Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom has joined with the Alliance Defense Fund, Americans United for Life, and other legal representatives to file suit on behalf of a Christian pharmacist being compelled by the State of Illinois to violate his conscience.Pro-life pharmacy employee David Scimio is challenging Governor Rod Blagojevich's "emergency rule," which requires all Illinois pharmacists to dispense various birth-control drugs "without delay." That directive includes the dispensing of so-called emergency contraceptives such as the "morning-after pill" or "Plan B," even if providing clients with these drugs goes against the healthcare worker's beliefs.
Scimio, a pharmacist at a Chicago-area Albertsons grocery store, says the emergency rule does not allow him to practice his profession without compromising his religious beliefs. As a Christian, he believes human life is sacred and begins at conception, and that the destruction of a fertilized human ovum -- which many contraceptive drugs can cause -- ends a human being's life.
Albertsons accommodated its pharmacy worker's religious beliefs, up until April 1 when the "emergency rule" went into effect. Afterward, however, management was required to order Scimio to comply with the rule and, against his conscience, start dispensing the contraceptives on demand.
But Casey Mattox with the Christian Legal Society says Blagojevich implemented the emergency rule without going through the proper channels. The governor also did so without prior notice, "which is one of the things that bothered Mr. Scimio the most," the lawyer asserts, "that he didn't even have the opportunity to be able to weigh in and even have his concerns noted in this situation."
The CLS litigation counsel says the normal process for enacting this kind of policy "would only require 45 days, and yet the Governor didn't even allow that." Another interesting thing about this controversy, Mattox points out, is that the governor has repeatedly said he made this rule, but in reality he has no authority to do so. The authority to make such laws belongs to the Department of Professional Regulation, the attorney says.
Also, the Christian Legal Society representative notes, the rule requiring the state's pharmacists to dispense even abortifacient (abortion causing) contraceptives is in direct violation of state law, which includes a conscience clause. "In fact, Illinois has one of the strongest conscience clauses in the country, and it protects all persons," he says. "The governor seems to think that pharmacists aren't covered."
The only way that pro-life pharmacy workers would not be covered by the state's conscience clause, Mattox states, "is if pharmacists aren't persons. Governor Blagojevich seems to certainly think that's the case with the way he's treating them."
The governor of Illinois has overstepped his authority, Mattox contends; but he hopes the lawsuit filed on Scimio's behalf will help re-establish the rights of all the state's pro-life pharmacists and other healthcare workers. The suit argues that the emergency rule is void because it violates the pro-life drugstore worker's rights under the Illinois Healthcare Right Conscience Act, and that it also exceeds the governor's authority under state and federal law.
Scimio's legal representatives intend to file a motion with the court seeking an immediate temporary restraining order against the Governor. Mattox says they hope the judicial department of the State of Illinois will prevent Blagojevich from remaking state law according to his own political viewpoints.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
