EUREKA, Calif. — California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Friday his office filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to protect emergency abortion care in Humboldt County as part of an ongoing case against Providence Saint Joseph Hospital in Eureka.
Bonta’s office said the legal move follows the hospital’s policy announcement allowing emergency abortions only if a mother is facing death.
Despite previously assuring my office, the court, and the people of California that it would follow state law and allow women to access emergency abortion care, Providence is seeking not only to go back on its word, but to make things far worse by requiring ‘certain death’ before allowing doctors to offer treatment,” Bonta said.
Previous cases where patients were harmed under the hospital’s policies were highlighted in the motion, with Bonta warning that others could be at risk without court intervention.
In one of those cases, patient Anna Nusslock was denied an abortion by St. Joseph after her water broke early in her pregnancy. Nusslock was told by doctors she could not receive the abortion as long as one of the twin babies she was carrying had a detectable heartbeat. St. Joseph discharged her to another hospital several miles away, and Nusslock was hemorrhaging and passing large blood clots by the time she got there.
The state sued the hospital in 2024, claiming it violated several California laws, including the Emergency Services Law (ESL), for failing to provide lifesaving emergency care to Nusslock. During the lawsuit, Bonta moved for a preliminary injunction and received a stipulation that ensured Providence would be required to provide emergency abortion care according to state law without limitations or exemptions.
However, in June of 2025, Bonta had to again file a motionforcing Providence to comply with state law after the provider signaled it would claim a religious exemption, contrary to the stipulation. In August 2025, the court ruled the stipulation would remain in place, which, according to Bonta’s office, ensured women in Humboldt County would have access to emergency abortion care. The court also ordered the attorney general to file the preliminary injunction, Bonta said.
According to the California department of justice (DOJ), two providence polices are at issue now, including the former in which Nusslock, as well as a second patient called Jane Roe, were treated, allowing physicians to intervene only once the patient’s “life is at risk,” as well as their new policy in which even a substantial risk to the patient’s life would not be enough to perform an emergency abortion.
While the new policy requiring certain death before intervention has not been implemented due to the prior stipulation and order entered by the court, Attorney General Bonta argues in the motion for a preliminary injunction that both versions of the policy violate the ESL,” the DOJ said.
Providence is currently the only local option for emergency pregnancy care, and Bonta said the DOJ will continue pushing to ensure the hospital complies with state law.
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