By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Washington state officials are permanently blocked from enforcing rules that tell pharmacies and pharmacists they have to stock emergency-contraception products regardless of any religious objections, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
A lesbian flight nurse discharged under the government's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays in the military was an excellent officer whose sexuality never caused a problem in her unit, former colleagues told a federal judge Monday.
"The Board of Pharmacy's 2007 rules are not neutral, and they are not generally applicable," U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton wrote in a case that pitted two veteran pharmacists and Ralph's Thriftway in Olympia, Wash., against state health officials and the state pharmacy board.
Washington state can't force pharmacies to sell emergency-contraception pill →
"The rules are unconstitutional as applied to the Plaintiffs. The Court will therefore permanently enjoin their enforcement against Plaintiffs," wrote Judge Leighton, who serves in the Western District Court of Washington at Tacoma.
Washington state can't force pharmacies to sell emergency-contraception pill →
