Lawsuit: Walgreens disciplined pharmacists who refused to dispense gender-transition drugs on religious grounds

The Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC) filed a federal lawsuit this week on behalf of two pharmacists who say Walgreens and the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy forced them to choose between their careers and religious convictions.

The complaint names Dr. Rachel Scott of Mahtomedi and Dr. Dora Ig-Izevbekhai of Woodbury as plaintiffs, who both allege they were disciplined after declining to dispense prescriptions for gender-transition drugs.

According to the lawsuit, Dr. Scott was terminated in January 2024 after 17 years with Walgreens, while Dr. Ig-Izevbekhai’s hours and pay were cut drastically after nearly three decades with the company.

Both pharmacists believe that abortion ends a human life and that God created human beings as male and female. As such, the complaint says the pharmacists worked under informal arrangements for years where they passed prescriptions they could not fill due to their religious beliefs to their colleagues.

“No client was ever prevented from receiving a prescription in a timely manner because of Dr. Scott’s religious beliefs,” the complaint says. It goes on to explain that “in 27 years of Dr. Ig-Izevbekhai’s work at Walgreens, these religious practices of hers did not result in any formal or informal client complaints with the State Board of Pharmacy.”

Dr. Ig-Izevbekhai

Despite this, in late 2022 Dr. Ig-Izevbekhai was asked by her Walgreens manager to complete a religious exemption form. She was later informed that her accommodation request was denied.

According to the lawsuit, Walgreens told her that the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy “allowed pharmacists to object on religious grounds only to filling prescriptions for emergency contraceptives and abortifacients, and that Walgreens therefore would not accommodate Dr. Ig-Izevbekhai’s religious practice of not providing gender-transition drugs.”

In December 2023, Dr. Ig-Izevbekhai was informed she could no longer work as a pharmacist after Jan. 3, 2024, unless she agreed to fill gender-transition prescriptions, the lawsuit says. Since that time, she has had to work in non-dispensing roles in Minnesota and obtained another job filling prescriptions for Walgreens in Wisconsin, where they do honor her religious beliefs.

In legal communications, Walgreens said it could not accommodate Dr. Ig-Izevbekhai’s religious beliefs because of “the state Board of Pharmacy’s supposed requirement that all pharmacists must dispense gender-transition drugs and administer all vaccines,” the complaint says.

According to the lawsuit, this was the first time Dr. Ig-Izevbekhai was informed that her requested accommodation for administering vaccines made with fetal tissues was also prohibited.

Dr. Scott

Scott, who was informally accommodated for years, returned from maternity leave in May 2023 and asked Walgreens to formalize the arrangement.

“Dr. Scott’s accommodation request explained her religious beliefs … and asked that she be allowed to continue doing what she had always done: politely refer requests that conflicted with her religious beliefs to a willing pharmacist,” the complaint states.

Walgreens denied the request, and on Dec. 2, 2023, told her she would not be scheduled beyond Jan. 3, 2024, unless she agreed to fill prescriptions for gender-transition drugs, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint says Walgreens justified its actions by citing Minnesota administrative rules, which say that refusal to fill prescriptions “that may reasonably be expected” constitutes unprofessional conduct.

The lawsuit contends that Walgreens has incorrectly interpreted these rules, and that the Board of Pharmacy refused to offer clarification.

Doug Seaton, UMLC president, said the Board’s failure to clarify what the rules actually mean has left pharmacists vulnerable to termination.

“The Board has placed these pharmacists—and many others—under threat of termination for following their conscience,” he said. “This lawsuit protects their right to practice pharmacy consistent with deeply held religious beliefs.”

The lawsuit argues that the Board’s rules have long allowed for religious accommodations. For instance, the minutes from a 1999 Board of Pharmacy meeting note that pharmacists who, “because of their personal beliefs, refuse to fill certain prescriptions” could make arrangements to refer them elsewhere.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that pharmacists are not required to dispense gender-transition drugs when doing so would violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.

Walgreens declined to comment citing pending litigation. The Minnesota Board of Pharmacy did not respond to a request for comment.

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