An ‘ominous sign’

Richard A. Sokerka

While the annual “Fortnight for Freedom” was being observed to focus on religious liberty issues, the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a conscience rights case raised by pro-life pharmacy owners pointed to just how fragile our freedom to live out our faith has become.

The case before the Supreme Court challenged Washington state rules that required pharmacies to dispense abortion-causing drugs and prevented those who object to abortion from referring customers elsewhere.

Greg Stormans, a Christian who opposes abortion, and two other plaintiffs, also pharmacists, had appealed the decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. “All we are asking is to be able to live consistently with the beliefs that we hold, as Americans have always been able to do, and to be able to refer patients for religious reasons,” Stormans said.

The only saving grace in the Court’s refusal to hear the case was the dissent from three justices. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent joined by Justice Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts. “This case is an ominous sign,” he wrote. “If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern.”

Justice Alito’s dissent said that allowing conscience referrals serves both the rights of conscience and practical ends, given that pharmacies can only stock a small fraction of the more than 6,000 drugs approved by the FDA.

“The dilemma this creates for Stormans and others is plain: Violate your sincerely held religious beliefs or get out of the pharmacy business,” he said.

In the U.S. Bishops’ statement on religious liberty, “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty,” they clearly point this out: “It is the first freedom because if we are not free in our conscience and our practice of religion, all other freedoms are fragile. If citizens are not free in their own consciences, how can they be free in relation to others, or to the state? If our obligations and duties to God are impeded, or even worse, contradicted by the government, then we can no longer claim to be a land of the free, and a beacon of hope for the world.”

Are we still the land of the free? The debate is on.