State Can Force Pharmacy Sale Of Plan B

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal appeals court panel says Washington state can force pharmacies to dispense Plan B or other emergency contraceptives.

The unanimous decision Thursday by the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 2012 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald B. Leighton, who had found that the state's rules violated the religious freedom of pharmacy owners. It was the second time the appeals court reversed Leighton in the case.

Washington adopted rules in 2007 following reports that some women had been denied access to Plan B, which has a high dose of medicine found in birth-control pills and is effective if a woman takes it within a few days of unprotected sex. Some consider the medicine tantamount to abortion.