A jury in Minnesota ruled on Friday that a pharmacist who refused to give a woman the morning after pill did not violate her rights.
According to NBC News, Andrea Anderson filed the lawsuit against George Badeaux and the pharmacy he works for three years ago under the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
Anderson, a mother of five, went to fill her prescription for the morning after pill at McGregor Thrifty White pharmacy, the only pharmacy in her small town, in 2019 after the condom broke during sex, according to court documents.
But, Badeaux, a local pastor, who has been working at the pharmacy for four decades refused to fill her prescription because it would violate his “beliefs.”
Even though Aitkin County District Judge David Hermerding ruled before the trial that Badeaux’s religious rights are not the issue in the case, he spent much of his time on the stand at trial explaining the religious reasons behind his decision to not fill the prescription.
“I’m a Christian,” he said, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I believe in God. I love God. I try to live the way He would want me to live. That includes respecting every human being.”
According to the complaint, Anderson drove hours to get the prescription filled at Walgreens in the city of Brainerd. Badeaux had warned her against filling the prescription at a pharmacy in a nearby town and refused to tell her where else she could go, as required by state law.
On Friday, a jury ruled that Badeaux did not violate Anderson’s civil rights under state law, but awarded her $25,000 in damages due to emotional harm.
“I can’t help but wonder about the other women who may be turned away,” Anderson said in a statement. “What if they accept the pharmacist’s decision and don’t realize that this behavior is wrong? What if they have no other choice? Not everyone has the means or ability to drive hundreds of miles to get a prescription filled.”
Badeaux’s attorney, Charles Shreffler, said it is likely Anderson will not get any money because the jury concluded she was not discriminated against because of her sex.
“We are incredibly happy with the jury’s decision,” Shreffler said in a statement. “Medical professionals should be free to practice their professions in line with their beliefs.”
Lawyers for Gender Justice, which is representing Anderson, plans to appeal the decision.
“To be clear, the law in Minnesota prohibits sex discrimination and that includes refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception,” Gender Justice Legal Director Jess Braverman said. “The jury was not deciding what the law is, they were deciding the facts of what happened here in this particular case. We will appeal this decision and won’t stop fighting until Minnesotans can get the health care they need without the interference of providers putting their own personal beliefs ahead of their legal and ethical obligations to their patients.”
