Stormans bring the legal flood with Alliance Defense Fund Ralph's attorneys: Not locally grown

author : Janet Blanding topic : Ralph's / Bayview Thriftway | Plan B

On July 26, 2006, the owners of local grocery store/pharmacy Ralph’s Thriftway filed a lawsuit against the state of Washington’s Board of Pharmacy and Human Rights Commission in federal court. The complaint, filed on behalf of Stormans, Inc. and two pharmacists who are not employees of Ralph’s, contends that newly adopted state administrative codes that require pharmacies to fill prescriptions without discrimination violate the “Plaintiffs’ unalienable right of conscience on matters of religious and moral conviction free of government coercion.”

Despite Ralph’s insistence that it is a community-minded, locally-oriented store, the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based organization, is behind this lawsuit. The complaint is signed by two attorneys from Seattle law firm Ellis, Li & McKinstry, as well as Benjamin Bull, Byron Babione, and Amy Smith of the Alliance Defense Fund, with an address in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative Christian non-profit organization with a stated purpose of “defending the right to hear and speak the Truth [sic] through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.” Bill O’Reilly, conservative “culture warrior” and ADF booster, has encouraged listeners of his radio show to donate money to the ADF, calling it the “antidote to the ACLU.” According to the Washington Post, the ADF handles litigation itself, as well as underwriting legal fights for such organizations as the American Center for Law & Justice, which was founded by Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell’s Liberty Counsel.

One of the founders of the Alliance Defense Fund is James Dobson, of “Focus on the Family” notoriety. Focus on the Family promotes “family values” by advocating for school prayer, corporal punishment, and abstinence-only education, while opposing reproductive choice, equal rights for homosexuals, pornography, and “militant feminism.” The political agenda of the Alliance Defense Fund reflects much the same goals as Focus on the Family. The primary issues of the ADF, as enumerated on its website, are “Sanctity of Life,” “Traditional Family,” and “Religious Freedom.” The “Sanctity of Life” information page states that the ADF provides “case funding, strategy and coordination, attorney training, and litigation” to oppose abortion and public funding of abortion, to support parental consent laws, and to defend pharmacists’ “right of conscience.”

Regarding “Traditional Family,” the Alliance Defense Fund claims to have “fought numerous attacks on marriage and family values, including efforts ... to allow those engaging in homosexual behavior to have preference to adopt children and be foster parents, to allow those engaging in homosexual behavior to serve openly in the military, expose children to explicit sex education materials contrary to parental approval, [and] to deny parents the right to raise their children before God as they see fit.”

The leadership of the ADF is rabidly homophobic. Current president and general counsel Alan Sears is co-author of the book The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today (Broadman & Holman, 2003). This book offers its readers insights such as “The efforts of homosexual activists to convince Americans to tolerate homosexual behavior tramples religious freedom and leaves a trail of broken bodies in the dust,” and asks the penetrating question “How far down the road have homosexual activists taken us toward their goal of unbridled sexual behavior?” Gay rights and marriage equality advocacy is seen as hindering personal religious rights, community religious rights, and as “a threat to the existence of the traditional family.”

The Alliance Defense Fund, in a press release dated Aug. 14 describes how Kevin Stormans chose not to stock Plan B in his pharmacy, “when his research showed that the pill can prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg.” No further details are given about Kevin Stormans’ ventures into medical research, which is unfortunate; it is puzzling that his scientific conclusions are so at odds with other research findings about the mechanism of action of levonorgestrel, the active ingredient in Plan B. The press release goes on to state that in response to Ralph’s decision not to stock Plan B, “A few activists began picketing his store, and even went so far as to file complaints with the Washington Board of Pharmacy.” The truth is that more than 350 people pledged to boycott Ralph’s until they stock Plan B, and many other community members are boycotting without ever having pledged. In July 2006, more than 200 picketers turned out during the first days of the boycott. As of late August 2007, 20 women have filed complaints against Ralph’s with the Washington State Department of Health – all of these complaints are still actively being investigated or undergoing legal review.

Then again, who can blame the ADF for getting it wrong? They’re in Arizona; they probably haven’t driven by and seen the picketers outside Ralph’s. While Ralph’s is looking outside the community for help with its legal case, there is plenty of home-grown, local opposition to its policy of not stocking all forms of birth control. As boycotter Diana Arens said, “I like to shop locally and support community businesses, but I think it’s important to look at the alliances those businesses have made. When they don’t resonate with our community’s values of social justice, I shop elsewhere.”

Janet Blanding is an Olympia resident who has been a key organizer in the Ralph’s boycott campaign