California Supreme Court Issues Its Decision In Benitez

The California Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, has held that the state’s anti-discrimination law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, limits a clinician’s constitutional right to religious freedom, when that right is invoked against the interest of a patient.  In Benitez v. North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group, the plaintiff had sued two ob-gyns  after they refused to perform an intra-uterine insemination, claiming that the refusal was based on her sexual orientation. The physicians contended that their religious beliefs prohibited them from assisting Benitez not because she was gay but because she was unmarried.

The case will now proceed on the factual question of what really motivated the physicians. If it was the patient’s marital status, the physicians may have the right to refuse the procedure, as other physicians have refused to perform abortions on the basis of their religious beliefs, particularly because California now permits gay marriage. If it was because of plaintiff’s sexual orientation, however, the physicians’ actions would violate state law.

Alan Milstein