The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty won a victory in the fight for freedom of conscience in STORMANS INC. V. MARY SELECKY.
Founded in 1994 by University of Notre Dame Law School graduate Kevin Hasson ’85, the Becket Fund proudly claims to have defended the religious rights of people from “A to Z,” “Anglicans to Zoroastrians.” A non-profit, public-interest legal organization, its mission is the protection of religious freedom and the free exercise of religion. The organization takes its name from St. Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered after disputing with King Henry II of England the relationship between Church and state.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in STORMANS INC. V. MARY SELECKY overturned a 2007 Washington State Board of Pharmacy regulation requiring pharmacists to dispense abortifacients like Plan B and Ella regardless of their religious convictions.
Pharmacists Rhonda Mesler and Margo Thelen, and Ralph’s Thriftway owner Kevin Stormans were pepresented by lawyers from the Becket Fund and the Seattle-based law firm, Ellis, Li & McKinstry. Because of the 2007 regulation, Thelen lost her job, Mesler faced transfer to another state, and Stormans dealt with investigations and threats from the State Board of Pharmacy.
Luke Goodrich, Deputy National Litigation Director at the Becket Fund, commented favorably on the ruling.
“Today’s decision sends a very clear message: No individual can be forced out of her profession solely because of her religious beliefs,” he said. “If the state allows pharmacies to refer patients elsewhere for economic, business, and convenience reasons, it has to allow them to refer for reasons of conscience.”
The court denounced the Board of Pharmacy’s slanted policy.
“The Board of Pharmacy’s 2007 rules are not neutral, and they are not generally applicable,” the decision read. “They were designed instead to force religious objectors to dispense Plan B, and they sought to do so despite the fact that refusals to deliver for all sorts of secular reasons were permitted.”
The Becket Fund is currently involved in 4 cases challenging the recent healthcare mandate that requires institutions to provide contraceptive services to its employees. It currently represents Ave Maria University, Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Colorado Christian University, and, most recently, Belmont Abbey College.
The BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE V. [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary] SEBELIUS case is the frontrunner lawsuit in the fight for religious freedom. As a Catholic college, Belmont Abbey argues that it cannot stay true to the teachings of the Catholic Church and in good conscience provide contraceptive services to its students or employees.
Hannah Smith, senior legal counsel, said that quandaries created by the mandate are absurd.
“A monk at Belmont Abbey may preach on Sunday that pre-marital sex, contraception, and abortions are immoral, but on Monday, the government forces him to pay for students to receive the very drugs and procedures he denounced,” she said.
Because of the extremely narrow religious exemptions in the healthcare mandate, Belmont Abbey is in the process of suing the federal government in an attempt to protect their First Amendment Rights. If Belmont Abbey chose not to provide the contraceptive services required by the mandate, it would be heavily fined and forced to terminate its health care insurance for employees and students.
Becket Fund Founder Kevin Hasson said the HHS mandate “contains a feeble religious exemption that protects only institutions that employ and serve members of their own faith. It offers no protection for the vast majority of religious schools, hospitals and charities that are open to all, as if teaching children, healing the sick and feeling the hungry weren’t religious practices. And it does nothing to protect individual believers.”
He continued, “By offering religious exemptions only to organizations that do not reach out to the world, Secretary Sebelius may not have cured the common conscience, but she has certainly done her best to quarantine it.”
Smith highlighted the problem the healthcare mandate poses for religious institutions.
“Essentially the administration is saying, ‘We take your religious principles very seriously—so we’re giving you an extra year to get over them,’” she said.
“No employer, particularly in this economy, should be forced to make the choice between violating its deeply held religious beliefs or terminating its health insurance plans for employees and paying a heavy fine,” Smith said.
The federal government has made it increasingly difficult for people to practice their religious beliefs when those beliefs involve contraception and other related life issues. According to Smith, “Freedom of conscience is a ‘first freedom.’ If government can force monks to pay for abortion drugs, what can’t government do?”
Stephanie House is a senior PLS major who lives in OC and OC. Shoot her an email if she sounds mysterious/ interesting: shouse1@nd.edu.
