ICC Note: Samuel Alito, a US Supreme Court Justice, discussed in a recent speech that religious freedom may be under greater threat than citizens’ rights to free speech. The speech then led to a discussion on the case of a pharmacy that was forced to supply abortifacients in spite of his Christian objections. This debate on the balance between religious freedom and free speech has been hotly contested throughout the United States and other parts of the Western world in recent years.

By Heather Clark

11/27/2016 United States (Christian News Network) – During a recent speech in Washington for the national lawyer’s convention of the Federalist Society, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito opined that religious freedom might be “in greater danger” than the right to free speech.

“I am reminded of a song by the latest recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature: It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there,” he said.

Alito pointed to a case out of Washington State that was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the owner of a pharmacy was required to stock the morning-after pill despite his religious convictions regarding abortifacients.

As previously reported, in 2006, Ralph’s Thriftway owner, Kevin Stormans, received a call inquiring whether the location sold the morning-after pill. After replying that the pharmacy did not carry it, he began to receive anonymous complaints via phone and email. Ralph’s Thriftway was soon also picketed and complaints were filed with the Washington Board of Pharmacy, which launched an investigation.

The following year, the state passed regulations requiring that pharmacies stock and dispense the morning-after pill, and the legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed suit on behalf of Stormans and two of his pharmacists, Rhonda Mesler and Margo Thelen, who objected to the requirement because of their Christian faith.

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