The American Center for Law and Justice is preparing to go to court to protect the conscience rights of two pharmacists in Illinois.
The case of Morr-Fitz, Inc. v. Blagojevich pits pharmacists Luke VanderBleek and Gleen Kosirog against a ruling by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, requiring pharmacists to dispense birth control pills and the morning after pill, despite their religious objections. American Center for Law and Justice attorney Frank Manion is handling the case.
"It was an edict by the now infamous Governor Blagojevich. I mean, we are still cleaning up the constitutional debris left by Governor Blagojevich on this issue," he explains. "He simply, out of thin air, created a rule he called an emergency regulation, essentially striking down all of the existing conscience protections in Illinois in federal and state law."
His emergency was apparently based on one incident of an individual being turned away from a pharmacy in Chicago where she sought the morning after pill. Manion says it was hardly an emergency, considering the number of pharmacies in Chicago.
Frank Manion (ACLJ)"Governors can do that sort of thing. It's up to legislatures to rein them in," he points out. "And when the legislatures won't do it, I guess it's up to the courts, and that's why we're in the courts."
A preliminary junction favoring the pharmacists was recently issued, suggesting pharmacists are likely to win. Manion hopes to ensure that pro-life pharmacists and pharmacy owners receive the legal protection they are entitled in the U.S. Constitution and state laws.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: September 1, 2009
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