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A new lawsuit filed today in Humboldt County Superior Court alleges that Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka denied necessary emergency abortion care to a woman in 2022 due to a religious prohibition on giving such care when there’s a detectable fetal heartbeat.

The allegations in the suit closely resemble those in the case filed roughly two and a half months ago by the Office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta. As in that case, the plaintiff went into labor prematurely and was allegedly denied an emergency abortion despite being told that her baby would not survive.

The Los Angeles-based law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson filed the case pro bono on behalf of an anonymous client, who’s referred to in the complaint as “Jane Roe.” 

The suit seeks damages and relief on six grounds:

1. Denial of Emergency Medical Services and Care
2. Violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act; 
3. Denial of Right of Privacy under California Constitution; 
4. Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress; 
5. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress;
6. Violation of Unfair Competition Law.

Below we’ve reproduced the introduction to the suit. The full document can be downloaded via the link at the bottom of this post.

On December 12, 2022, Plaintiff—then 17 weeks into a very wanted pregnancy—felt her water break. Plaintiff immediately rushed to the emergency room at Providence St. Joseph Hospital (“Providence St. Joseph”) in Eureka, CA, hoping to save her baby. Once there, doctors confirmed she was in active labor and diagnosed her with previable preterm premature rupture of membranes (“previable PPROM”), a serious medical condition given Plaintiff’s other risk factors. They also gave her the tragic news that her baby would not survive. 

As devastating as this news would be for anyone, it was even more so for Plaintiff, who had been down this road before at Providence St. Joseph. Plaintiff had already lost two previous pregnancies to previable PPROM, both at around 17 weeks gestation.

Worse, Plaintiff feared that the staff at Providence St. Joseph — the only major hospital near her home and for hundreds of miles, and one that holds itself out as providing emergency medical care to the public — would again deny her the medical care she urgently needed. With no chance of survival for her baby, and with her risk of developing an infection or suffering another near-fatal hemorrhage increasing by the minute, Plaintiff needed an emergency abortion to protect her life and health. But Plaintiff’s doctors were forbidden from providing this necessary care so long as there was still a detectable fetal heartbeat — a prohibition imposed by hospital policy, not medical judgment.

This was a nightmare on replay. Plaintiff had sought treatment at Providence St. Joseph during both of her prior miscarriages and both times had been turned away and denied medically necessary care. On both prior occasions, Plaintiff had been forced to endure hours of labor and escalating risk of injury or death due to Providence St. Joseph’s policy. The first time, Plaintiff had to travel 5.5 hours by car to San Francisco, while in active labor, to receive care. The second time, Plaintiff was discharged after tests confirmed a fetal heartbeat and sent home while in active labor without an obstetrician ever evaluating her. Plaintiff delivered her baby the next morning in her obstetrician’s primary care office and nearly hemorrhaged to death.

This third time was no different. Plaintiff suffered in limbo — actively laboring and in pain, grieving her loss, and terrified that she might hemorrhage again or even die. After 19 hours of agony, Plaintiff spontaneously delivered her deceased baby in a hospital toilet.

Providence St. Joseph’s treatment of Plaintiff on these three occasions was shocking and inhumane. It was also illegal. Providence St. Joseph denied Plaintiff the emergency abortion care that her doctors deemed medically necessary and that she was entitled to under California law, instead leaving her to labor in excruciating pain, placing her at increased risk of a life-threatening infection or injury. That risk was real — Plaintiff did, on the second occasion, nearly hemorrhage to death and required a double blood transfusion. Plaintiff also suffered, and continues to suffer, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and a fear of hospital settings from being denied care at the only major hospital — and now the only labor & delivery unit — in her county. Because Plaintiff desperately wants to have a baby, Providence St. Joseph is certainly the hospital where she will go for her next delivery.

Providence St. Joseph repeatedly denied Plaintiff emergency services and abortion care in violation of California’s Emergency Services Law (Health & Safety Code, § 1317, et seq.), the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, § 51, et seq.), her right of privacy under the California Constitution, and the Unfair Competition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200, et seq.). By doing so, Providence St. Joseph also negligently and intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon Plaintiff.

Plaintiff therefore brings this action to obtain relief for the unimaginable physical and emotional harm she has repeatedly suffered as a result of Providence St. Joseph denying her right to medically necessary emergency abortion care and to enjoin the hospital from denying her such care in the future.

The Outpost emailed Providence of Northern California spokesperson Christian Hill shortly before publishing this post. We will provide an update if and when Providence responds.

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DOCUMENT: Jane Roe v. St. Joseph Health Northern California, LLC