California AG Sues Catholic Hospital for Refusing to Provide Emergency Abortion
“Absent intervention, these policies will continue to threaten irreparable harm to the health and life of pregnant patients," the suit says.
By Gary Gately
A Catholic hospital in Northern California denied a pregnant woman an emergency abortion despite the “immediate threat to her life and health,” the state’s attorney general alleges in a lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in Humboldt County Superior Court, accuses Providence St. Joseph Hospital, in the coastal city of Eureka, California, of violating multiple state laws by discriminating against a pregnant patient and refusing to provide an emergency abortion.
In February, Providence refused to provide the emergency abortion to Anna Nusslock, who was 15 weeks pregnant with twin girls when her water broke prematurely, putting her at risk of potentially life-threatening infection and hemorrhage, according to the lawsuit.
Nusslock, a 36-year-old chiropractor, was told that hospital policy forbids doctors to terminate a pregnancy when a fetal heartbeat is detected “unless Anna’s life was sufficiently at risk,” the lawsuit says.
The suit seeks an injunction requiring the hospital to provide medically necessary care, including abortions, and asks the court to impose civil penalties and fines of $2,500 for each violation.
“Despite every doctor involved agreeing that Anna needed immediate intervention, Providence Hospital policy would not allow it,” the suit says. “Absent intervention, these policies will continue to threaten irreparable harm to the health and life of pregnant patients.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said at a press conference in the state capital of Sacramento on Monday: “This is such a tragic and infuriating story. It’s unlawful. It’s wrong. We need hospitals to follow the law, at the bare minimum. That is not too much to ask. If you are a human being, you can see how cruel this was."
Bonta noted that many Republican-led states have imposed strict limits on abortion since the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling, striking down Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed the right to an abortion for nearly a half-century.
In California, by contrast, voters in 2022 enshrined the “right to reproductive freedom” in the state constitution, and lawmakers have enacted measures to protect abortion rights.
“California is the beacon of hope for so many Americans across this country trying to access abortion services since the Dobbs decision,” Bonta said in a statement. “It is damning that here in California, where abortion care is a constitutional right, we have a hospital implementing a policy that’s reminiscent of heartbeat laws in extremist red states.
“With today’s lawsuit, I want to make this clear for all Californians: Abortion care is healthcare. You have the right to access timely and safe abortion services. At the California Department of Justice, we will use the full force of this office to hold accountable those who, like Providence, are breaking the law.”
California has a “conscience law’' that allows doctors with religious objections to refuse to perform abortions, but the law does not apply to emergency situations.
Speaking at the press conference, Nusslock said a doctor at Providence told her that her twins would not survive and recommended that she be flown by helicopter to UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco to obtain an emergency abortion. But she said she declined because she doubted her insurance would cover the $40,000 cost and her husband, Daniel, could not accompany her.
Nusslock said she asked the doctor if she and her husband could drive the 270 miles to UCSF instead, and the doctor replied: “If you try and drive, you will hemorrhage and you will die before you get somewhere that can help you.”
A nurse offered her a bucket of towels before she and her husband rushed to Mad River Community Hospital, 12 miles away in Arcata, California, Nusslock said: “She said they wanted me to give you these in case something happens in the car — a bucket full of towels, like you’d give someone to clean a bathroom.”
Nusslock, who has had multiple miscarriages, recalled the nightmare that still haunts her: “I'll never forget looking at my doctor, tears streaming down my face, my heart shattered into a million pieces and just pleading with her, 'Don't let me die.’ My daughters deserved better, and I deserved better.”
She added: “I am here today to tell my story for one simple reason — because I don't want other people in my community to experience the same life-threatening trauma that I experienced.”
Nusslock was “actively hemorrhaging” by the time she reached the other hospital, the lawsuit alleges.
Providence’s policy "inflicted on me needless protracted pain, bleeding, and trauma," Nusslock said.
“I needed an abortion so that my husband didn’t lose both of his daughters and his wife in one night,” she said.
KM Bell, one of Nusslock’s attorneys, said: “In California, state law is clear: Hospitals are required to provide emergency, lifesaving care. No exceptions. Religious refusals to provide care are an increasing problem in this country, especially after Dobbs. Hospitals should not be allowed to discriminate or risk patients’ lives.”
Bryan Kawasaki, a spokesman for Providence, the suburban Seattle-based company that operates Providence St. Joseph, said in an email to The Catholic Observer on Tuesday: “Providence is deeply committed to the health and wellness of women and pregnant patients and provides emergency services to all who walk through our doors in accordance with state and federal law. We are heartbroken over Dr. Nusslock’s experience earlier this year….
“As part of our pledge to delivering safe, high-quality care, we review every event that may not have met our patient needs or expectations to understand what happened and take appropriate steps to meet those needs and expectations for every patient we encounter.”
Under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), all U.S. hospitals that operate emergency departments and participate in Medicare must provide stabilizing treatment to all patients with an emergency medical condition. But over the summer, in an Idaho case, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to confirm that the 1985 law requires hospitals to perform abortions on patients experiencing medical emergencies, instead sending the case back to Idaho courts.
After the high court remanded the case, the Biden administration reaffirmed its commitment to enforcing the law.
Catholic hospitals follow the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, which ban abortions as long as the fetus has a heartbeat, even if it has no possibility of surviving, unless the mother’s life is in danger.
The USCCB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nor did the Catholic Health Association of the United States, the largest group of nonprofit healthcare providers in the nation, comprising more than 600 Catholic hospitals and 1,600 Catholic long-term care facilities. The association’s members comply with the U.S. bishops’ directives on abortion, as Kawasaki said Providence St. Joseph did in the case of Nusslock.
He also said all Providence hospitals abide by the EMTALA.
On Tuesday afternoon, Kawasaki released a message from Providence Northern California Service Area Chief Executive Garry Olney to all Providence employees in the area saying the company had expressed its “profound apologies” to Nusslock.
“This was a tragic situation that did not meet our high standards for safe, quality, compassionate care,” Olney’s message said. “We are immediately re-visiting our training, education and escalation processes in emergency medical situations to ensure that this does not happen again and to ensure that our care teams have the training and support they need to deliver the best possible care for each patient we serve.”
The message continued: “As devastated as we are, we can’t begin to imagine what the patient and her family have been through. We will learn from this and renew our commitment to ensuring that the care and experience we deliver are aligned with our high standards, every time and in every care setting.”
U.S. bishops have been unwavering in their opposition to abortion and said in a voters guide to the 2 024 elections that abortion must be the “preeminent issue.” Pope Francis has also condemned abortion and repeatedly called it “murder.” On Sunday, during a press conference aboard the papal plane, Francis called doctors who perform abortions “hitmen.”
But an April Pew Research Center survey found that 39% of U.S. Catholics believe abortion should be legal in most cases and 22% believe it should be legal in all cases. The survey also found that 28% of U.S. Catholics believe abortion should be illegal in most cases, while 11% believe it should be illegal in all cases.
Abortion has become among the top issues in the presidential race, and battles over abortion continue to rage in courtrooms and legislatures.
And voters in 10 states will decide whether to enshrine the right to abortions in state constitutions in ballot measures on Election Day. Most of them would protect abortion until “viability,” the standard set by Roe.
Voters have supported abortion rights in all seven states where the issue has appeared on the ballot since August 2022. The seven include conservative states such as Ohio and Kansas.
Twenty states now ban abortion or restrict the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v. Wade.