(LifeSiteNews) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing a Catholic hospital after it refused to violate its ethical code to allow its doctors to abort 15-week-old twins whose mother was suffering from an early miscarriage.
In a lawsuit filed in Humboldt County Superior Court, Bonta claims Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, California, violated multiple state laws because it did not perform two abortions for Anna Nusslock, who was having an “obstetric” emergency.
Nusslock, who has a history of miscarriages according to local news reports, began to bleed at 14 weeks’ gestation and then shortly after that her water broke. She went to Providence St. Joseph, where she was told her twins would not survive. After talking with other doctors from another hospital, she was told she needed to have an abortion, according to the lawsuit.
Providence St. Joseph policy does not allow doctors to perform an abortion once a heartbeat is detected. According to Nusslock, she then drove to another nearby hospital to have the abortions.
California has conscience laws for doctors who have objections to performing abortions when it violates their faith but not for emergencies, the lawsuit claims.
Bonta learned about Providence St. Joseph’s policy on abortions, which is not uncommon for Catholic or Christian-affiliated hospitals, from Nusslock, who is being represented by the pro-abortion National Women’s Law Center.
According to Bonta, Providence St. Joseph’s hospital policy on abortion is “reminiscent of heartbeat laws in extremist red states,” and the state is not “immune from this problem,” he said in a press conference. He is seeking an injunction that would force Providence St. Joseph to violate its own ethics rules and perform abortions in “emergencies.”
The lawsuit marks the first time since Roe v. Wade was overturned that a state has directly gone after a faith-based hospital because it has refused to perform an abortion.
The hospital’s parent company did not provide a direct comment on the matter in a statement to the media, claiming it did not hear about the incident until the lawsuit was filed. It said it 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.”
California, led by far-left, pro-abortion Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, has pushed many anti-life and family laws in recent years, with many being the most extreme in the country.
Earlier this month, LifeSiteNews reported on how the state is closer to mandating health insurers to cover in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments for single individuals and same-sex couples. This comes despite the fact there are cost concerns from Newsom’s own administration.
The U.S. government under the pro-abortion Biden-Harris administration has previously gone after medical centers and some states such as Idaho by trying to force them to violate their laws and or ethical codes.
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador has asked the Biden-Harris administration to stop misusing federal law to override the state’s Defense of Life Act.
As it stands, the Biden-Harris administration has been pushing to force emergency room doctors to perform and or participate in abortions. Harris has promised, if elected in the fall, to “restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.”
Former President Donald Trump is looking to win over Catholic voters despite the fact he has faced intense scrutiny for opposing federal limits on abortions and saying he supports “reproductive rights” as well as supporting mandatory insurance coverage of embryo-destroying in vitro fertilization.
However, some well-respected theologians have said Catholics should vote for him as the lesser of two evils and he has earned the backing of the Catholics for Trump group.
Key Intel: Learn Why The Democrats Are Purposely Destroying America