Ralph’s Thriftway in Olympia has challenged the state rule requiring pharmacies to stock and dispense medications that are in demand in a community – in this case, the Plan B and ella “morning after” treatments that can prevent pregnancies after sexual intercourse.
I wrote about the trial here in late November as it was about to begin in U.S. District Court in Tacoma before Judge Ronald Leighton.
The state Department of Health has had a rule since 1967 requiring pharmacies to stock medications, but the rule was amended by the Pharmacy Board in 2007 to let pharmacists refuse to fill legal medication orders if they could get someone else to do it.
The federal courts have taken differing positions on some of the legal issues at hand. Judge Leighton initially issued an injunction blocking the state’s rules and their enforcement against Stormans, Inc., but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reversed that ruling in 2009.
Leighton is an appointee of President George W. Bush.
The trial began in late November and ran into December, but closing arguments and the judge’s verdict have been delayed several times – most recently by the January snow and ice storm.
Plan B is a high-dose contraceptive considered most effective in preventing an unwanted pregnancy if a woman takes it within 72 hours after unprotected sex, so advocates say it is essential it be available in pharmacies where patients might seek it.
The Food and Drug Administration in 2009 ordered that Plan B be available over-the-counter for teens as young as 17, but with prescriptions for those who are younger. FDA also says the medication does not affect existing pregnancies, unlike the RU-486 drug, but it has said the medication might act to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb.
Lawyers for Kevin Stormans and his four-generation, family-owned business have seized on that possibility in their arguments, while noting that Plan B and ella are available at other pharmacies to which Ralph’s could simply refer its customers.
