According to the AP today, a federal judge appointed by President Bush suspended Washington state's requirement that pharmacists fill prescriptions for emergency contraception. The Court's ruling, now known as 'refuse and refer', allows a pharmacist to deny filling a woman's prescription as long as he or she refers the woman to another pharmacy. The AP reports,

In an injunction signed Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton said pharmacists can refuse to sell the morning-after pill if they refer the customer to another nearby source. Pharmacists' employers also are protected by the order.

Critics consider the pill tantamount to abortion, although it is different from the abortion pill RU-486 and has no effect on women who already are pregnant.

Under pressure from Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, state regulators this year ruled that druggists couldn't withhold any prescription because of their personal objections.

Two pharmacists and a drugstore owner sued the state in July over the new rule, saying it violates their civil rights. They asked the judge to halt forced Plan B sales while the lawsuit is in play.

"On the issue of free exercise of religion alone, the evidence before the court convinces it that plaintiffs ... have demonstrated both a likelihood of success on the merits and the possibility of irreparable injury," Leighton wrote.

It is, at this point, unclear how this ruling applies to over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception. No details have emerged about the referral process either or whether, when a woman is referred to another pharmacy, she is guaranteed to have her prescription filled by it and that there are no objecting pharmacists on staff at the referred to pharmacy. It is also unclear how this ruling applies to other contraceptive methods or if pharmacists in Washington are now allowed to refuse to fill prescriptions for other birth control methods as well. More to come...