I’ve been writing a lot about the Washington State Board of Pharmacy’s pending decision on whether to allow individual pharmacists the right to refuse to fill prescriptions.

I first covered this story when I learned that a refusal had taken place at a Seattle pharmacy—the pharmacy at Swedish Medical Center. (In other words: this isn’t just happening east of the Cascades.)

The issue got a lot of play this past weekend. As Savage posted below, the Sunday NYT Magazine had a huge piece about the Right’s war on American bedrooms—putting the EC debate in that larger context. Meanwhile, the Seattle Times got on to the Swedish Medical Center story.

Since writing my initial news story, I’ve been editorializing about the role Gov. Gregoire can play. I’ve urged the governor to use her bully pulpit to pressure the Board to err on the side of protecting women’s health rather than protecting individual pharmacists’ feelings.

Gregoire sent a low-profile letter to the board last January stating her opinion that the board needs to protect women’s access to health care. However, as the deliberations have moved ahead (and as of the last meeting, tacked right) Gregoire has remained silent. This has to change.

The Democratic Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, took up this issue last year, and basically forced his rules board to protect women’s health. I’d like Gregoire to follow his lead, and stand up to the fundamentalists.

Indeed, wasn’t this the reason liberals voted for Gregoire back in 2004? Gregoire barely made a case for herself, but her campaign hammered away that Rossi was a social conservative. The basic message was: Look, we know you’re not thrilled with Gregoire, but at least she’s not a radical on social issues like Rossi. Okay. Well, it’s time for Gregoire to deliver.

Just in case Gregoire is nervous about taking a stand (even though she supposedly believes in women’s right to health care) here’s a little incentive for her: Polling.

Illinois Gov. Blagojevich decided to act after he saw some numbers. In his state: 66% were opposed to rules that would allow individual pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for EC. (Only 26 percent favored the legislation.) 79 percent of independents were opposed.

While Illinois (pop. 12 million) is twice as big as Washington (pop. 6 million), the two states have similar political leanings. Illinois has 2 Democratic senators and a Democratic governor. So do we. Illinois voted for Kerry 55 to 44. Washington went for Kerry 53 to 46. Illinois has 10 Ds in Congress and 9 Rs. Washington has 6 Ds and 3 Rs.

I know Gregoire isn’t the bravest politician around when it comes to standing up for Democratic values, but I thought I’d put Illinois’s polling numbers out there to appeal to Gregoire’s focus group mentality. Polling indicates: This one’s a no-brainer.

Gregoire has the power to rally public opinion to pressure the board. Oh, and she also has the power to hire and fire them.

Why is the governor remaining silent on this issue?