Showing posts with label Contraceptives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contraceptives. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Pharmacist Violated Sex Discrimination Ban in Refusing to Fill Prescription for Emergency Contraceptive

 In Anderson v. Aitkin Pharmacy Services, LLC, (MN App., March 18, 2024), a Minnesota state appellate court held that a pharmacist violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act that prohibits intentionally refusing to do business with a person because of the person's sex. The pharmacist refused to dispense plaintiff's prescription for the emergency contraceptive ella because of his conscientious objection to dispensing any medication that prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg. The statute defines sex discrimination as including discrimination because of pregnancy. The court said in part:

Badeaux refused to dispense Anderson’s valid prescription because Badeaux believed she may have been pregnant.  Thus, pregnancy was a substantial causative factor in Badeaux’s refusal to dispense ella....

Badeaux did not assert a constitutional defense in district court and does not argue that the MHRA actually violates his constitutional rights.  Instead, he argues on appeal that the sex-discrimination language in the MHRA should be interpreted to avoid a constitutional conflict.... But we do not apply the constitutional-avoidance canon to a party’s proposed interpretation of a statute if the interpretation is contrary to the plain language of the statute.

The court however refused to reverse the jury's finding that the Pharmacy, as opposed to the individual pharmacist, did not violate the sex discrimination ban. The court said in part:

The evidence shows that Aitkin Pharmacy wanted to fill all valid prescriptions and had a pharmacist on staff who was willing to dispense emergency contraception.  The evidence also shows that, when Badeaux called Anderson on January 21, he communicated both that he was unwilling to dispense ella and that there was another pharmacist scheduled to work who was willing to dispense her prescription.... [T]here is a reasonable theory of the evidence to support the verdict that Aitkin Pharmacy did not intentionally refuse to do business with Anderson...

The court also concluded that, because of erroneous jury instructions, plaintiff should have been granted a new trial on her claim that the pharmacy violated the state's public accommodation law that bans denial of the full and equal enjoyment of goods and services in places of public accommodation because of sex. Courthouse News Service reports on the decision. [Thanks to Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]

Thursday, March 14, 2024

5th Circuit: Texas Statute Giving Parents Right to Consent to Teens' Contraceptives Is Consistent with Title X

 In Deanda v. Becerra, (5th Cir., March 12, 2024), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Texas statute giving parents the right to consent to their teenagers' receiving contraceptives is consistent with Title X of the federal Public Health Service Act under which clinics are given grants to distribute contraceptives and other family planning services. HHS had given informal guidance to grantees that they could not require parental consent or notify parents before prescribing contraceptives to minors. The court's opinion describes the lawsuit:

In 2020, Alexander Deanda filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Secretary’s administration of the Title X program. He alleged that he is the father of three minor daughters1; that he is raising his daughters according to his Christian beliefs to abstain from pre-marital sex; and that he wants to be informed if any of his children access or try to access contraceptives. He further alleged that Texas law gives him a right to consent before his children obtain contraceptives. See Tex. Fam. Code § 151.001(a)(6); § 102.003(a)(1). Finally, he alleged that the Secretary administers Title X unlawfully by funding grantees who provide contraceptives to minors without notifying parents or obtaining parental consent. Accordingly, Deanda sought declaratory and injunctive relief on behalf of himself and a putative class, claiming that the Title X program violates (and does not preempt) Texas law and that it violates his constitutional right to direct his children’s upbringing as well as his rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”).

The court concluded that Title X and the Texas statute reinforce each other because Title X calls for grantees to encourage family participation to the extent practicable.  The court however reversed the trial court's invalidation of a formal HHS Rule promulgated in 2021 forbidding grantees from notifying parents or requiring parental consent because the Rule was adopted after this lawsuit was filed and was not specifically challenged by the lawsuit. 

Houston Chronicle reports on the decision.

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

White House Fact Sheet Focuses on Administration's Protection of Access to Reproductive Health Care

On Monday, which was the 51st anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, the White House issued a Fact Sheet (full text) announcing new actions to protect access to reproductive health care. According to the Whtie House, these include:

The Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (HHS) are issuing new guidance to clarify standards and support expanded coverage of a broader range of FDA-approved contraceptives at no cost under the Affordable Care Act....

The Secretary of HHS is issuing a letter to private health insurers, state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs, and Medicare plans about their obligations to cover contraception for those they serve....

... The Administration is committed to helping ensure all patients, including women who are experiencing pregnancy loss and other pregnancy-related emergencies, have access to emergency medical care required under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). The Administration has long taken the position that the required emergency care can, in some circumstances, include abortion care. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is defending that interpretation of the law before the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule by June. 

To increase awareness of EMTALA and improve the procedures for ensuring that patients facing all types of medical emergencies receive the care to which they are entitled, HHS is announcing today a comprehensive plan to educate all patients about their rights and to help ensure hospitals meet their obligations under federal law....

The Fact Sheet went on to outline at length steps the Administration has taken to protect access to abortion, including medication abortion, and to contraception. The Fact Sheet comes as the White House is convening the fourth meeting of its Task Force on Reproductive Health Care.

Nurse Sues Clinic for Refusing to Accommodate Her Objection to Prescribing Contraceptives

A religious discrimination lawsuit was filed last week in a Florida federal district court by a nurse-practitioner who was fired from her position at a Florida CVS MinuteClinic. The complaint (full text) in  Kristofersdottir v. CVS Health Corp., (SD FL, filed 1/18/2024), alleges that CVS revoked all religious accommodations that allowed employees to refuse to prescribe contraceptives, including the accommodation it had given to plaintiff for more than 7 years.  Plaintiff, a Roman Catholic, objected to prescribing hormonal contraceptives for patients. According to the complaint:

CVS corporate culture changed around 2021. Instead of protecting religious freedom, CVS began to treat religious practice as a source of "privilege."...

CVS never discussed possible accommodation options with Ms. Kristofersdottir even though CVS had numerous ways to provide a reasonable accommodation without undue hardship on the business.

When Florida subsequently passed a law protecting conscience-based objections by employees, CVS offered plaintiff her job back, but she declined the offer. The complaint alleges violations of Title VII and the Florida Civil Rights Act.

First Liberty issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Friday, December 22, 2023

Minnesota Court Hears Oral Arguments on Pharmacist's Refusal To Dispense Morning-After Pill

The Minnesota Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral arguments (audio of full oral arguments) in Anderson v. Aitkin Pharmacy Services, LLC, (Dec. 21, 2023). At issue is whether a pharmacist violated the sex discrimination provisions of the Minnesota Human Rights Act when, because of his religious belief, he refused to dispense the morning-after emergency contraception drug ella and instead referred her to another pharmacist who could fill her prescription the next day. ADF issued a press release regarding the case.

Sunday, December 25, 2022

FDA Approves Label Change for Plan B Emergency Contraceptive: Not an Abortifacient

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday that it has approved a labeling change for the emergency contraceptive Plan B One-Step, sometimes known as the morning-after pill.  The labeling change states clearly that the medication is not an abortifacient.  The FDA says in part:

Plan B One-Step will not work if a person is already pregnant, meaning it will not affect an existing pregnancy. Plan B One-Step prevents pregnancy by acting on ovulation, which occurs well before implantation. Evidence does not support that the drug affects implantation or maintenance of a pregnancy after implantation, therefore it does not terminate a pregnancy.

The original label had been required to say in part: "this product works mainly by preventing ovulation (egg release). It may also prevent fertilization of a released egg (joining of sperm and egg) or attachment of a fertilized egg to the uterus (implantation)."

The FDA supports its conclusion that it does not affect implantation with a detailed Decisional Memorandum discussing more recent studies of the drug.

In the extensive litigation challenging rules under the Affordable Care Act that mandated health insurance policies cover contraceptive methods for women, religious objectors had pointed to Plan B as one of the medications that they considered an abortifacient because it could prevent implantation of a fertilized egg.  Also, since the Supreme Court's Dobbs case, abortion bans in some states might possibly be broad enough to cover medication that prevents implantation.

In a 2015 Memorandum, relying on research available at that time, the Catholic Medical Association rejected the use of Plan B even after a rape. AP reports on the FDA's approval of the labeling change.

Monday, December 12, 2022

HHS Must Assure Parental Consent in Grantee Programs That Distribute Contraceptives to Minors

In Deanda v. Becerra, (ND TX, Dec, 8, 20222), a Texas federal district court held that a Texas statute which protects parental rights to consent to a minor's medical care applies to all Title X grantees in Texas.  Title X of the Public Health Service Act provides for grants to entities offering family planning services.  Plaintiff, a Christian raising his daughters in accordance with Christian teachings that require unmarried children to refrain from sexual intercourse until marriage, contends that the Department of Health and Human Services is not monitoring grantees to ensure that they obtain parental consent to providing contraceptives to minors. The court rejected defendant's claim that Title X pre-empts Texas law on parental rights. It went on to hold that parents have a federal constitutional right to control the medical care of their minor children, and this includes the right to consent to contraception.  The court said in part:

Contraception is a serious matter - both medically and for parents' rights to control the upbringing and education of their children. Several popular methods of birth control carry serious side effects. The courts that have denied parental consent rights apparently presume contraceptive drugs are "no big deal." ... 

[O]mitting parental consent gives insufficient weight to the undesirability of teenage promiscuity.

Thursday, September 01, 2022

Nurse Sues Clinic For Violating State Conscience Protections

Suit was filed yesterday in a Virginia state court by a Catholic nurse practitioner who was fired by a CVS Minute Clinic after she insisted that, for religious reasons, she would not provide or facilitate the use of hormonal contraceptives, Plan B and Ella which she considers abortifacients. For three years, the clinic had accommodated her religious beliefs, but it then changed its policy and refused to do so.  The complaint (full text) in Casey v. MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Virginia, LLC, (VA Cir. Ct., filed 8/31/2021) challenges her firing as a violation of Va. Code § 18.2-75 which provides that:

any person who shall state in writing an objection to any abortion or all abortions on personal, ethical, moral or religious grounds shall not be required to participate in procedures which will result in such abortion.

ADF issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Wednesday, April 06, 2022

Colorado Governor Signs Reproductive Health Equity Act

 On Monday, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law (signing statement) HB 22-1279 (full text), the Reproductive Health Equity Act which provides in part:

(1) Every individual has a fundamental right to make decisions about the individual's reproductive health care, including the fundamental right to use or refuse contraception.

(2) A pregnant individual has a fundamental right to continue pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion and make decisions how to exercise that right.

(3) A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of this state.

CNN reports on developments.

Wednesday, November 03, 2021

Nurse's Religious Objections Should Have Been Accommodated Under Illinois Right of Conscience Act

 In Rojas v. Martell,(IL Cir. Ct., Oct. 25, 2021), an Illinois state trial court held that under Illinois Healthcare Right of Conscience Act, a county Health Department Clinic should have accommodated the objections of a nurse who on religious grounds would not participate in abortion referrals or provide contraceptives to patients. However, the court found that plaintiff was entitled only to the statutory minimum damages of $2500 because she should have mitigated damages by pursuing a position that was available at a nursing home. The court summarized its holding:

[W]hen one member of a team of employees makes an objection of conscience to performing a minority of her job duties, the employer should be required to accommodate the employee in her present position if doing so does not unreasonably compromise the employer's operations.

ADF issued a press release announcing the decision.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Suit Challenges New York's Ban On Reproductive Health Care Employment Discrimination

A lawsuit was filed last week in a New York federal district court by a pro-life pregnancy care center, a religious pro-life pregnancy care center membership organization and a Baptist church challenging the constitutionality of  New York's SB 660 which was signed into law earlier this month. the new law prohibits employers from taking action against an employee because of reproductive health care decisions by the employee or their dependents.  It bars employers from accessing information about employees' reproductive health decision making or requiring waivers by employees of their right to make such decisions. The complaint (full text) in CompassCare v. Cuomo, ND NY, filed 11/14/2019), alleges in part:
SB 660 is a transparent attempt to meddle in the affairs of religious and pro-life organizations—including but not limited to pregnancy care centers, churches, and schools—by forcing them to employ and associate with those persons who do not share or live by the organizations’ beliefs regarding abortion, contraception, and the impropriety of sexual relations outside the context of a marriage between a man and a woman.....
Taken together, these requirements compromise the very reason for being of these organizations, which is to promote life, oppose abortion, and teach and live a sexual ethic consistent with biblical principles.
The suit claims that the law violates their free speech and free exercise rights. CNA reports on the lawsuit.

Sunday, October 14, 2018

HHS Grants to Catholic Bishops Conference Upheld

In ACLU of Northern California v. Azar, (ND CA, Oct. 11, 2018), a California federal district court granted summary judgment to the government in the ACLU's Establishment Clause challenge to HHS's choice of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as a grantee under the Unaccompanied Alien Children Program  (UACP) and the Trafficking Victim Assistance Program (TVAP).  The ACLU focused particularly on the refusal of sub-grantees to directly refer clients for abortion or contraception services. However children in custody in UACP who sought an abortion were transferred to a secular provider that did not have objections, and to an independent medical provider when contraception services were sought. The Bishops' Conference ultimately removed language from its documents that would have prevented TVAP sub-grantees from providing abortion or contraception services. The court held in part:
The government’s grant relationship and interactions with the Bishops Conference in the record in this litigation are not sufficiently likely to be perceived as an endorsement of the Conference’s religious beliefs....
The record here shows that the government’s UACP and TVAP grant money was used to provide general secular care services to unaccompanied minors and that no government money was used for proselytization, religious education, religious facilities, religious items, religious literature, or other religious activity. There is no evidence that the ACLU, or any taxpayer, was forced to monetarily subsidize the Bishops Conference’s religious beliefs. To the extent that the Conference declined to provide unaccompanied minors with access to abortion or contraception services, it did not use any government tax money to do so, and thus its actions are not properly the subject of a taxpayer-standing suit.

Saturday, October 13, 2018

Norway's Supreme Court Upholds Doctor's Conscience Rights

According to Irish Legal News, in a decision published last Thursday, Norway's Supreme Court held that the European Convention on Human Rights requires health authorities to respect a doctor's conscientious objection to performing certain medical procedures.  Dr. Katarzyna Jachimowicz had been fired from her position in a medical clinic after she refused an order to insert an IUD in a patient. She claims that the IUD may act as an abortifacient, and her Christian faith opposes abortion.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Supreme Court Denies Review In Washington State Pharmacy Case

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied review in Storman's Inc. v. Wiesman,  (Docket No. 15-682, cert. denied 6/28/2016), but over a 15-page dissent to the denial of certiorari written by Justice Alito and joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Thomas. (Order List, scroll to pg. 7). In the case, the 9th Circuit upheld rules of the Washington Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission that provide only limited accommodation to pharmacists and pharmacies that object on religious grounds to filling prescriptions for emergency contraception. The rules require pharmacies to deliver all prescriptions, even if the owner has a religious objection. An individual pharmacist with religious objections may refuse to fill a prescription only if another pharmacist working for the pharmacy does so. (See prior posting.)  In his dissent, Justice Alito argued in part:
there is much evidence that the impetus for the adoption of the regulations was hostility to pharmacists whose religious beliefs regarding abortion and contraception are out of step with prevailing opinion in the State.
Washington Post reports on today's action by the Supreme Court. [Thanks to Marty Lederman via Religionlaw for the lead.]

Friday, June 24, 2016

HHS Sued Over Allowing Catholic Agencies To Limit Health Services To Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors

The ACLU today filed suit in a California federal district court alleging that officials in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have violated the Establishment Clause in allowing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and its sub-grantees to impose religiously based restrictions on the use of taxpayer funds to aid unaccompanied immigrant minors.  The complaint (full text) in ACLU of Northern California v. Burwell, (ND CA, filed 6/24/2016) alleges in part:
1. There are currently thousands of unaccompanied immigrant minors ... in the legal custody of the federal government.... Many have come to the United States fleeing abuse and torture in their home countries; many have been sexually abused or assaulted ....; some have also been trafficked for labor or prostitution....
2. The federal government is legally required to provide these young people with basic necessities, such as housing, food, and access to emergency and routine medical care, including family planning services, post-sexual assault care, and abortion.
3. To provide young people with these necessities, the government ... issues grants to private entities, including a number of religiously affiliated organizations.
4. ... Defendants authorize a few of these religiously affiliated organizations—such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ... and its subgrantees across the country ... to refuse on religious grounds to provide information about, access to, or referrals for contraception and abortion, even if the young person in their care has been raped.
New York Times reports on the lawsuit.

Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Cert Filed In Challenge By Pharmacies To Required Filling of Emergency Contraception RX

Yesterday a petition for certiorari (full text) was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in Stormans Inc. v. Wiesman, (cert. filed, 1/4/2016).  In the case, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld rules of the Washington Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission that provide only limited accommodation to pharmacists and pharmacies that object on religious grounds to filling prescriptions for emergency contraception. The rules require pharmacies to deliver all prescription medications, even if the owner has a religious objection. An individual pharmacist with religious objections may refuse to fill a prescription only if another pharmacist working for the pharmacy does so. (See prior posting.) ADF issued a press release announcing the filing of the petition.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Groups Question Walgreen's Project With Catholic Health Care Clinics

On Monday, a group of 19 advocacy organizations sent a letter (full text) to Walgreen Co. questioning the announced plans of Walgreen to partner with a Catholic health care system in opening clinics in 25 Walgreen's drug stores in Washington and Oregon. The letter, signed by groups such as the ACLU, Lambda Legal, NARAL and Planned Parenthood affiliates, said in part:
We appreciate Walgreens’s objective to provide customers with convenient access to basic health services. However, as Providence is a religious health system, we are very concerned that these clinics will limit patients’ access to important health services. Customers or patients who request services at these clinics or at Walgreens’s pharmacies are entitled to assurances that the services, information, and referrals they receive will not be restricted by religious doctrine.
As you are likely aware, Providence is a Catholic health care system that is required to follow the Ethical and Religious Directives (“ERDs”) promulgated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. These directives forbid or severely restrict critical reproductive and end-of-life health care services at Catholic health facilities, including contraception, abortions, fertility treatments, vasectomies, tubal ligations, aid in dying,  and advance directives that are contrary to Catholic teachings. Some religious health systems also restrict the information and referrals that their health providers are allowed to give to patients. Adherence to the ERDs also increases the likelihood that LGBTQ individuals and their families will face discrimination in seeking to access health care services consistent with their medical needs.
Think Progress reported on the letter.

Friday, July 24, 2015

9th Circuit Rejects Free Exercise Challenge By Pharmacies To Required Filling of Emergency Contraception RX

In Stormans, Inc. v. Wiesman, (9th Cir., July 23, 2015), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld against constitutional challenge rules of the Washington Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission that provide only limited accommodation to pharmacists and pharmacies that object on religious grounds to filling prescriptions for emergency contraception. The rules require a pharmacy to deliver all prescription medications, even if the owner of the pharmacy has a religious objection. An individual pharmacist with religious objections may refuse to fill the prescription if another pharmacist working for the pharmacy does so.

The court held that these rules are both facially and operationally neutral, and are generally applicable, so that  heightened scrutiny need not be applied to plaintiffs' free exercise challenge:
The possibility that pharmacies whose owners object to the distribution of emergency contraception for religious reasons may be burdened disproportionately does not undermine the rules’ neutrality.
The court also rejected plaintiffs' substantive due process challenge, rejecting the argument that there is a fundamental liberty interest in owning, operating or working at a licensed professional business free from regulations requiring activities that one sincerely believes lead to the taking of human life. Alliance Defense Fund immediately announced that it would appeal the court's decision. The Olympian reports on the 9th Circuit's decision.

Wednesday, April 08, 2015

FOIA Lawsuit Will Seek Documents On Religious Organizations Care For Imigrant Minors

The ACLU announced last Friday that it plans to file a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to obtain documents relating to HHS Administration for Children and Families' contracts with Catholic Charities and other religious organizations for care of refugee and undocumented minors.  ACLU claims that these organizations are restricting refugee and undocumented immigrant teenagers' access to reproductive health services, including contraception and abortion. An ACLU staff attorney said:
We believe deeply in religious freedom. But religious freedom does not include the right to take a government contract that requires providing access to health care, and then refuse to provide a teen who has been raped the health care she needs.
The ACLU added:
Recently, the federal government released proposed regulations requiring federal contractors who care for unaccompanied minors to provide access to contraception, emergency contraception, and abortion if a teen has been raped. In response, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, one of the groups that received a government-funded contract to provide care to these teens, said any requirement that they provide information about contraception or abortion, even a referral or the arrangement for such services, would violate their religious freedom.
[Thanks to Will Esser via Religionlaw for the lead.]

Monday, February 09, 2015

Catholic and Conservative Christian Groups Urge Congressional Disapproval of Two D.C. Ordinances

Under Title VI of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, Congress may disapprove laws enacted by the D.C. City Council.  Last week, fifteen Catholic and conservative Christian organizations sent a letter (full text) to members of Congress urging disapproval of two recently enacted D.C. laws-- the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014 and Human Rights Amendment Act of 2014 (see prior posting). According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops press release:
The Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014 prevents religious institutions, faith-based employers, and pro-life advocacy organizations in the city from making employment decisions consistent with their sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions about the sanctity of human life.  
For example, the law requires “organizations to hire or retain individuals whose speech or public conduct contradicts the organizations’ missions,” the letter stated. “The law plainly violates the First Amendment, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), and possibly other federal laws and clearly contradicts the Supreme Court’s recent, unanimous ruling in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Church and School v. EEOC.”  
Another law enacted by the Council of the District of Columbia, the Human Rights Amendment Act of 2014, requires religiously affiliated educational institutions to endorse, sponsor, and provide school resources to persons or groups that oppose the institutions’ religious teachings regarding human sexuality. 
“In doing so, the law violates the First Amendment and RFRA on similar grounds”....