State Senator Mike McGuire spoke at a rally during a recess in the State of California-Providence trials outside the Humboldt County courthouse, held to support Anna Nusslock and reproductive rights. (The Outpost will have an update on those proceedings later today.)

“I especially want to say thank you to Ms. Nusslock,” McGuire said. “[For] your strength. Your courage. Your conviction. You’re standing up and you’re standing strong to ensure that no other woman in this state faces the horrific conditions you did. You’re standing up for injustice, for all women in California.”

About a dozen people attended. Nusslock and Ferndale resident Ellie Titus also addressed the crowd, mostly composed of older attendees not too inclined to do much yelling. One of them (who asked to remain anonymous) said she was “shocked” she had to attend protests in California “in this day and age,” so long after the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision when she was 19. 

Nusslock said doctors at St. Joseph Hospital denied her an abortion for religious reasons when she sought care there in Feb. 2024 after she had a miscarriage 15 weeks into her pregnancy with twins. Nusslock says they gave her a bucket full of towels and a choice between going to Mad River Hospital in Arcata or hemorrhaging to death attempting to make a trip to a hospital in San Francisco.

Nusslock didn’t need a megaphone.

“When I was pregnant with my daughters, I truly thought they were going to change the world,” she said. “…I went to Providence that day for a lot of reasons. I went because my doctor told me to. I went because it was close to my house, and in an emergency every second matters. And I went because they claim to care about their pregnant patients’ outcomes. Miscarriage and loss are a part of pregnancy, and if it happens to you, you deserve to be cared for with compassion, to be treated with respect and to have your dignity maintained. Providence did none of that for me.”

“Providence sent their attorneys here today to argue for the right to hurt other people like they hurt me, and this is unacceptable,” Nusslock continued. “This is cruel and this is dangerous. You meeting here today shows the world what our community thinks about Providence continuing to hurt our families. We are not okay with forcing people to suffer in their most vulnerable moments, and we will not be quiet about it.”

After McGuire finished, Nusslock told him she appreciated his attendance and said she was willing to support him in his campaign for Congress. 

She also told the Outpost that she appreciated everyone who came. 

“I was so scared for my neighbors and my friends; I couldn’t live with myself if they went through what I went through without me standing up to fight back against it,” she said. “I was ready to do it alone, but the fact that I don’t have to gives me all the hope in the world.”