Supreme Court declines challenge to law that allows pharmacies to dispense emergency contraception

The court made the ruling on Monday

Pro-choice activists outside the US Supreme Court on Monday. (Pete Marovich/Getty)

The US Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the law that makes it illegal for pharmacies to refuse dispensing contraceptives for religious reasons.

Washington adopted the rule in 2007 that makes it illegal for pharmacies to refuse to stock drugs for religious reasons.

Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito all offered their dissent to the court’s 5-3 ruling on Monday. The case involved a small family business who refused to stock birth control pills. "Dispensing these drugs would make them guilty of destroying life," the family lawyer said, according to NBC News.

"If this is a sign of hour religious liberty claims will be treated in the years again, those who value religious liberty have cause for threat concern," the three justices said.

The state said that the law does not interfere with the freedoms of individual pharmacists but ensures their employers can meet the needs of their customers.