SEATTLE — Druggists who believe "morning after" birth-control pills are tantamount to abortion can't stand in the way of a patient's right to the drugs, Washington state regulators have affirmed.

In a unanimous vote yesterday, the state Board of Pharmacy gave final approval to rules that say drugstores have a duty to fill lawful prescriptions despite any individual pharmacist's personal religious or moral objections to any particular medication.

Pharmacists or drugstores that violate the rules could face discipline from the board, which has the power to revoke state licenses. The board had given preliminary approval to the rules in August.

The Washington State Catholic Conference and Human Life Washington, an anti-abortion group, predicted a court challenge, saying the rule wrongly forces pharmacists to administer medical treatments they consider immoral.

"I don't think pharmacists who adhere to traditional moral precepts are going to allow their conscience to be overrun by the Board of Pharmacy," said Dan Kennedy, Human Life's chief executive.

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Amy Luftig said the ruling "ensures that men and women will have access to their health care."

"It also respects a pharmacist's personal beliefs, so long as that doesn't come before a patient's needs," she said.

Sold as Plan B, emergency contraception is a high dose of the drug found in many regular birth-control pills. It can lower the risk of pregnancy by 89% if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

Some critics consider taking the pill a form of abortion, although it is different from the abortion pill RU-486 and has no effect on women who are already pregnant.

The federal Food and Drug Administration made the morning-after pill available over the counter to adults in August.

Under the new state rule, pharmacists with personal objections to a drug could opt out by getting a co-worker to fill an order. But the opt-out would only apply if the patient were able to get the prescription filled in the same pharmacy visit.

Pharmacies would be required to order supplies of a drug if a patient asks for something that is not in stock.

Pharmacists are also forbidden to destroy a prescription or harass patients. Those rules were prompted by complaints from Washingtonians, chairwoman Rebecca Hille said.

The rules will take effect in mid-June, Health Department spokesman Jeff Smith said.