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Showing Original Post only (View all)Aitkin County jury finds for pharmacist who declined to fill birth control prescription [View all]
Source: StarTribune
An Aitkin County jury found Friday that a pharmacist who declined to fill a birth control prescription because of his religious beliefs did not commit sex discrimination under the Minnesota Human Rights Act. The case is believed to be the first in the nation to be brought to trial based on a claim of sex discrimination for refusing to dispense birth control.
However, the jury ordered pharmacist George Badeaux to pay Andrea Anderson of McGregor, Minn., $25,000 for emotional harm she suffered when he declined to fill her prescription for a morning-after pill in January 2019.
And the case may not be over. Gender Justice, the St. Paul advocacy group that provided legal representation to Anderson, said it will file a motion asking the judge to overturn the verdict, something that's allowed in civil cases. If that motion fails, the group said it plans to appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
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Badeaux testified that he believes the morning-after pill sought by Anderson, a drug called Ella, has the potential to change a woman's uterine lining and prevent a fertilized egg from implanting. In his view, that would end a life, he testified. Anderson's attorneys presented expert testimony that Ella works by delaying ovulation when taken after unprotected intercourse. The expert called Badeaux's interpretation "speculative and hypothetical."
Read more: https://www.startribune.com/aitkin-county-jury-rules-for-pharmacist-who-declined-to-fill-birth-control-prescription/600196146/