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"Did the Christians martyrs who died rather than follow the state's command to worship the Emperor go to hell?"

Of course not.

1. Even if their non-obeyance of the secular authorities would be a sin, as Christians they are justified to God through their faith in Christ and would go to Heaven, regardless of their Earthly sins.

2. That said, like Daniel before them (who did the same thing -- remember Nebechanezzer and the fire), the martyrs sufferred wordly punishment for their legally-wrongful actions.

3. BUT, more imporantly, in the instance at hand, the pharmacists here are not faced with the false dichotomy of either killing babies or disobeying the law.

They are free to avoid killing babies and still obey the law by quitting their jobs and/or leaving the state.

Because they are free to follow both the law of God and the law of man, that is what 1 Peter tells them to do.

Indded, to the extent we Christians can thread that needle, as Christian we must do so. That is the entire point of 1 Peter --- in the next verse, he tells slaves to be good slaves, even though slavery itself was a wrongful and horrid institution.

The problem is that, you, like me, are disgusted by this unfair situation --- much as the slaves of that day were disgusted by their situtation.

But, when confronted with a hard choice, the solution is ALWAYS to go back to the Word of God, and follow it, no matter how much we think we know better.

Here, there is a path that allows following the law of man and God, and that is the path that must be taken.