e-Profile Login and ID Quick Search
New Ruling Upholds IL Pharmacies Right to Refuse, Overturns Law
An Illinois rule requiring pharmacies to dispense emergency contraception was overturned on April 5, 2011, when a Sangamon County Circuit Judge ruled in favor of the two pharmacy owners who brought a lawsuit against the state. According to The State Journal-Register Luke Vander Bleek of Morrison, IL, and Glenn Kosirog of Wheaton, IL, oppose emergency contraception on religious grounds and their counsel argued that they have the right to refuse dispensing prescriptions for the drugs under the Illinois Healthcare Right of Conscience Act and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Judge John Belz ruled in their favor, overturning the rule put in place by former Governor Rod Blagojevich. The State Journal-Register also reports that the “Illinois attorney general’s office plans to appeal Belz’s ruling, which the judge hasn’t yet extended to apply to all pharmacies in the state.”
