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California hospital asks court to dismiss abortion denial lawsuit
Lawyers for Providence St. Joseph (SJH), a Catholic hospital in Eureka, California, have asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the hospital by the state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta after it allegedly denied a woman an abortion earlier this year.
Anna Nusslock was 15 weeks pregnant with twins when she sought an abortion in February after her water broke early with a condition known as Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes (PPROM). Though Nusslock did need emergency care and treatment which may have resulted in the need for a preterm delivery of her babies, induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of the preborn child — is not the standard of care for PPROM.
According to mediasources, doctors at SJH told her she needed an abortion in order to prevent infection, but said the hospital wouldn’t commit an abortion because it was “against policy.”
As previously reported by Live Action News, “Because the doctor narrowly focused on induced abortion as Nusslock’s only option, he recommended she be airlifted to a hospital in San Francisco, but Nusslock decided it would be too expensive. Instead, her husband drove her to a hospital 20 minutes away.”
It was at that hospital that she delivered one of her twins, who was too young to survive and died soon after. The other twin, rather than allowed to be born prematurely like his sibling, was allegedly dismembered in a D&E abortion.
Bonta sued SJH soon after, claiming that it violated a number of laws in denying Nusslock an abortion.
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In October, SJH did agree to comply with California Emergency Services Law requiring all hospitals to commit induced abortions if the woman’s health was seriously jeopardized or impaired, but it denied the allegations in Bonta’s lawsuit.
According to the Times-Standard, the hospital filed the motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis that Bonta’s requests “would substantially burden SJH’s free exercise of religion.” Despite its earlier concession to commit some abortions, it is now arguing that committing abortions would be “forsaking its Catholic identity — the ultimate burden in a religious freedom case.” It also says that it did not violate a number of laws, as Bonta alleged.
“Our motion raises several procedural legal arguments for dismissal while also affirming both our Catholic identity and our commitment to providing safe, high-quality emergency care for pregnant patients in accordance with state and federal law,” a spokesperson for Providence told the Times-Standard.
“Our commitment to both the health of our community and our faith-based tradition remains unwavering. We have served as a vital safety net in Humboldt County since the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange founded the ministry more than 100 years ago, and we remain deeply committed to continuing to be here for patients when they need us most. As part of that commitment, we are providing additional training and education to our OB and Emergency Department medical staff and caregivers to support them in the delivery of safe, high-quality emergency care for pregnant patients in the context of our Catholic identity and the requirements of state and federal law.”
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