The suit claims that Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka illegally denied an abortion to Anna Nusslock, who was 15 weeks pregnant with twin girls, despite recommendations from her doctors that she receive the procedure.
Nusslock went to the hospital in February after experiencing increased bleeding and pain for a week and after her water broke prematurely earlier in the evening.
She was diagnosed with previable preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) and told there was no possibility of her twins surviving.
Nusslock was also told that she was at an increased risk of serious complications, including infections and hemorrhaging, that could result in permanent harm or death.
Despite this, however, she was informed that Providence St. Joseph Hospital policy forbade abortion care in her case because one of her twins still had a detectable heart tone and her own life wasn't yet sufficiently at risk, according to the suit.
The suit claims Providence St. Joseph Hospital's policy bars doctors from providing lifesaving or stabilizing emergency abortion care even when the pregnancy is not viable.
Such a policy is forbidden by California's Emergency Services Law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Unfair Competition Law, according to the suit.
Providence St. Joseph Hospital officials didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
