“No one disputes that there are circumstances in which people have a fundamental right to assert a moral or religious objection to performing duties — such as military service — and thus cannot be pressed by law into performing them. The problem lies in sorting out who can opt out and when. Consider, through that lens, the parallels between California physicians who refused last week to participate in the execution of a convicted killer and the growing numbers of pharmacists around the country who refuse to dispense morning-after pills. Until last week, only prison employees served as executioners in California. But U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled … that physicians or other licensed medical personnel must participate in the execution of convicted rapist and murderer Angelo Michael Morales. … Two doctors who had volunteered to participate withdrew at the last minute, upon learning they would need to do more than passively observe. … Meanwhile, the nation’s pharmacists are starting to find themselves in court, arguing for the right to refuse to dispense emergency contraception.” (02/26/06)