SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Anna Nusslock needed an abortion, her doctor said. But the hospital where she was receiving care refused to provide one.

At 15 weeks pregnant with twins, Nusslock, a resident of Eureka, California, began to experience pain and bleeding before her water broke in February.

Her doctor diagnosed her with previable preterm premature rupture of membranes. The doctor said her twin daughters were not going to survive and Nusslock needed an emergency abortion or she risked infection, hemorrhage, and possibly death.

The hospital, Catholic-affiliated Providence St. Joseph Hospital Eureka, barred doctors from performing an abortion as long as a fetus has “detectable heart tones, unless there was a (more) immediate threat to Anna’s life,” according to a lawsuit filed Monday by Attorney General Rob Bonta in Humboldt County Superior Court.

Nusslock’s doctor recommended she be helicoptered to UCSF to obtain an emergency abortion.

“Given the $40,000 cost and the fact that I would have to go alone without my husband, that option was not feasible to me,” Nusslock said at a press conference Monday announcing the lawsuit.

“I asked if we could drive to UCSF instead, and my doctor responded, ‘If you try and drive, you will hemorrhage and you will die before you get somewhere that can help you,” she recalled.

Instead, Nusslock and her husband drove to a small community hospital about 20 minutes away in Arcata. Before she left Providence, a nurse offered her a bucket of towels, she claimed.

“She said they wanted me to give you these in case something happens in the car,” Nusslock said. “A bucket full of towels like you’d give someone to clean a bathroom.”

Nusslock was “actively hemorrhaging” by the time she reached the other clinic, Mad River Community Hospital, the lawsuit alleges. While she did receive the care she required, Bonta’s complaint said Providence Hospital illegally denied the emergency care Nusslock needed.

“They broke the law, and we are taking action to make sure they never do it again,” Bonta said.

Providence’s policy violated multiple state laws, the lawsuit claims, including the Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Emergency Services Law and Unfair Competition Law.

The lawsuit accuses Providence hospital of illegally “dumping” Nusslock onto Mad River, a hospital it noted plans to close its own Labor & Delivery unit in October.

A spokesperson for Providence Health, the hospital’s parent company headquartered in Washington state, said in a statement that Monday morning was “the first Providence had heard of the California attorney general’s lawsuit, and we are currently reviewing the filings to understand what is being alleged.”

The company declined to comment further but said it is “heartbroken” by Nusslock’s experience.

“Providence 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,” the spokesperson said.

“As part of our pledge to delivering safe, high-quality care, we review every event that may not have met our patient needs or expectations to understand what happened and take appropriate steps to meet those needs and expectations for every patient we encounter,” the company’s statement concluded.

K. M. Bell, one of Nusslock’s attorneys, says that “In California, state law is clear: hospitals are required to provide emergency, lifesaving care. No exceptions.”

Bell said, “Religious refusals to provide care are an increasing problem in this country, especially after Dobbs. Hospitals should not be allowed to discriminate or risk patients’ lives.”

Bonta also filed a preliminary injunction asking that the hospital be required to provide emergency abortion care in accordance with state law.

Many Republican-led states have implemented restrictions on abortion following Dobbs, the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down national abortion rights, leaving it up to states.

California has gone the other direction: elected officials have passed laws to expand access to reproductive care while voters in 2022 enshrined the “right to reproductive freedom” in the state constitution.

Bonta, a Democrat, said the episode illustrates how “even in California, a champion for reproductive freedom, we are not immune from practices like the one we’re seeing today.”

“We will not stand by as it occurs” he said.

He urged anyone who has been denied reproductive care to reach out to the California Department of Justice.

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