Pharmacist refused emergency contraception prescription. Court to decide if that was...

Attorneys for a woman who was denied emergency contraception in 2019 told the Minnesota Court of Appeals Thursday that the pharmacist who refused to fill the prescription discriminated against her on the basis of her sex.

But an attorney for George Badeaux, the pharmacist at Thrifty White in central Minnesota, said his refusal to provide the drug due to his religious beliefs was not a violation of state and federal law.

A jury ruled last year that Badeaux did not discriminate against Andrea Anderson, a mother and foster parent, when he refused to fill her prescription for Ella, a drug that is used to stop a pregnancy before it starts. The jury also awarded Anderson $25,000 due to emotional harm — money she can’t collect because there was no finding of discrimination, said Jess Braverman, one of Anderson’s lawyers.