California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced filing a motion for a preliminary injunction in People of the State of California v. St. Joseph Health Northern California. On September 30, 2024, Attorney General Bonta filed a lawsuit in Humboldt County Superior Court alleging that Providence St. Joseph Hospital (Providence) in Eureka, California violated multiple laws — including California’s Emergency Services Law (ESL), the state level analogue to the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), and the Unruh Civil Rights Act — by refusing to provide emergency abortion care when needed to save the life and health of patients. Most recently, on August 29, 2025, the Humboldt County Superior Court left a stipulation and order in place that Attorney General Bonta secured from Providence, ensuring that women of Humboldt County have access to emergency abortion care, and ordered the People to file a preliminary injunction motion. In the motion for a preliminary injunction, Attorney General Bonta once again details the harrowing stories of two women, Jane Roe and Anna Nusslock, who were harmed by Providence’s unlawful conduct. Absent judicial intervention, Attorney General Bonta underscores that they will not be the last, particularly in light of Providence’s newly announced, unlawful policy dictating that a physician may only perform an emergency abortion if it is the “only alternative to the certain death” of the mother.

“Providence is currently the only available option for women in Humboldt County to seek emergency pregnancy care. 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,” said Attorney General Bonta. “We refuse to let that happen. We are filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to ensure that Providence continues following state law. This is not a game. It can be a matter of life or death.”