California Supreme Court Rules Doctors Must Treat Gay Patients Equally
Article Date: 08/18/2008 By Ann Turner
The California Supreme Court ruled on Monday that doctors in the state must treat gay and lesbian patients equally, regardless of religious objections. The Court overruled a fertility clinic’s choice not to provide fertility services to a lesbian couple on the grounds of religious beliefs.
The suit against the clinic was brought by
Guadalupe Benitez, who filed a case against North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group for refusing to provide artificial insemination to her because she was a lesbian.
In a
unanimous decision handed down on Monday, the California Supreme Court ruled that
doctors cannot refuse treatments to gays and lesbians because of religious objections. The Court stated that California’s sexual orientation antidiscrimination laws overrides the freedom of doctors to make treatment decisions based on their religious beliefs.
In the
ruling, the Justices stated that state antidiscrimination law “imposes on business establishments certain antidiscrimination obligations.”
“Do the rights of religious freedom and free speech, as guaranteed in both the federal and the California Constitutions,
exempt a medical clinic’s physicians from complying with the California Unruh Civil Rights Act’s prohibition against discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation? Our answer is no.”
The ruling came in a lawsuit against doctors at the North Coast Women’s Care clinic who refused to provide fertility treatments to a lesbian couple. Guadalupe Benitez claimed in the suit that physicians at the clinic provided her with fertility drugs and gave her instructions on self-insemination, but refused to provide further assistance because of their religious beliefs.
According to the Court ruling, the parties in the case disputed the actual reason for the refusal of additional services to Benitez. The physician treating Benitez, Dr. Christine Brody, claimed that her religious beliefs prevented her from “active participation in medically causing the pregnancy of any unmarried woman,” according to case documents.
However, Benitez alleged that Brody had refused treatment to her specifically because she was “a lesbian” and the refusal “constituted sexual orientation discrimination.”
Dr.
Douglass Fenton, who later treated Benitez, also refused to provide certain fertility treatment services to her because of his religious objections. After finding another physician outside of North Coast Women’s Care to continue her treatment, Benitez sued the clinic in 2001 seeking “damages and injunctive relief” for sexual orientation discrimination in violation of California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act.
The Unruh Civil Rights Act provides that: “All persons within the jurisdiction of this state are free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, or medical condition are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever.”
During the time in question, the Act did not include language regarding sexual orientation. However, the Supreme Court ruling notes that a number of “California’s reviewing courts had, in a variety of contexts, described the Act as prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination.” An amendment to the Act in 2005 expressly prohibited discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
The decision by the California Supreme Court will prevent the North Coast Women’s Care clinic from presenting a defense in trial stating that they may choose to refuse treatment to a lesbian couple based on religious objections. However, as noted by the Supreme Court ruling, the defendants may still argue that their denial of medical treatment was “prompted by their religious beliefs for reasons
other than the plaintiff’s sexual orientation.”
Benitez, who lives with her partner of 18 years, eventually gave birth to a son and twin daughters.
