Attorney General Rob Bonta announces lawsuit against St. Joseph Hospital as Eureka chiropractor Anna Nusslock looks on in this September 2024 (via Bonta’s X account). | Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka (file photo).

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Attorneys for St. Joseph Health Northern California, LLC, (SJH) are attempting to settle a 2024 lawsuit in which the State of California accuses St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka of refusing to provide emergency abortion care to people experiencing obstetric emergencies.

Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Timothy Canning was scheduled to issue a decision by early last month on the state’s motion for a preliminary injunction. But on February 20, the two parties notified the court that they had begun “substantive settlement discussions” that could take a while. They asked the court to hold off on issuing a ruling until the two sides could determine whether a settlement is possible.

Late last month, attorneys for both parties reported that they’re still negotiating.

The state’s lawsuit, which has garnered nationwide media attention, alleges that SJH violated California’s Emergency Services Law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Unfair Competition Law through its religion-based policy of prohibiting doctors from providing life-saving or stabilizing emergency treatment when doing so would terminate a pregnancy, even if that pregnancy is not viable. 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office has been seeking a preliminary injunction that would compel SJH to comply with California’s Emergency Services Law (ESL) by providing legally mandated emergency medical care. 

When the two parties last appeared in court, on Dec. 10, attorneys for SJH reiterated their main argument, which is that this injunction, if granted, would go too far by improperly forcing the hospital to perform elective abortions, which are forbidden by the Catholic religion. (SJH is owned by the Catholic not-for-profit Providence Health & Services.)

At that hearing, one of SJH’s defense attorneys further alleged that the two women at the center of the case — Eureka chiropractor Anna Nusslock and another patient identified only as “Jane Roe” — never actually experienced medical emergencies while in the hospital’s care. And he accused the state of making false statements in presenting its case.

The deputy attorney general arguing on behalf of the state emphatically denied those allegations and accused SJH of placing religious dogma ahead of women’s health.

In October 2024, the state reached a stipulated agreement with SJH whereby Providence promised to follow California’s Emergency Services Law for the duration of the lawsuit, and both parties said they’d seek to ensure “that pregnant patients receive adequate treatment for emergency medical conditions, based on the professional judgment of the treating physician.”

However, after receiving a letter from Bishop Robert F. Vasa, who oversees the Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa, attorneys for SJH asked Judge Canning to release them from that agreement. In his letter, Bishop Vasa stated that the agreement would violate the Ethical and Religious Directives that govern care at Catholic medical institutions. Vasa’s letter said a Catholic hospital may only terminate a pre-viable pregnancy when the only alternative is certain death of both mother and child.

But the court kept the stipulated agreement in place, and the latest status report from the two parties says SJH will continue to abide by the terms of that accord.

When reached for comment, both the Attorney General’s Office and Providence Health & Services declined to offer more details about the ongoing negotiations. Providence’s local communication manager, Shannon Garcia, sent the Outpost a prepared statement, which reads, in part, “Providence St. Joseph Hospital Eureka continues delivering the emergency care patients need in full compliance with state and federal law and the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care.”

Meanwhile, a second lawsuit against SJH, filed by the National Women’s Law Center on behalf of Nusslock, is proceeding. K.M. Bell, a senior attorney with the nonprofit law center, told the Outpost via email, “We are currently in discovery, the exchange of documents and information, which I’m afraid is probably not terribly exciting to the public, but our work to hold Providence accountable continues.”

The next status hearing in the state’s lawsuit is scheduled for May 18 at 8:30 a.m.

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