San Diego Union Tribune: Court favors doctors in lesbian's suit

[question everything]

Court favors doctors in lesbian's suit

3-judge panel allows use of religious beliefs in denying insemination

By Greg Moran
STAFF WRITER

December 3, 2005

An appeals court ruled yesterday that two North County doctors can be allowed to argue that their religious beliefs prevented them from artificially inseminating an unmarried lesbian.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal in San Diego said there was a "triable issue of fact" as to whether the refusal by the physicians to inseminate Guadalupe Benitez was based on her marital status and not her sexual orientation.

(snip)

At issue is what happened when Benitez, 33, went to the North Coast Women's Care Medical Group in Vista in 1999 for fertility treatments. She contends that on her first visit to the office with her partner she was told by Dr. Christine Brody that Brody would not perform a certain type of artificial insemination procedure because it was against her religious beliefs to do the procedure on a lesbian. Benitez also sued Dr. Douglas Fenton and the medical clinic. Benitez continued to seek treatment there, but eventually went to another doctor outside her insurance plan to become pregnant. She later gave birth to a son.

(snip)

Since the case began, the doctors altered their initial stance and now say that they would not inseminate any unmarried woman – regardless of their sexual orientation, according to court documents. That is a key distinction, because the state law, while banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, does not explicitly ban discrimination based on marital status.

(snip)

But the appeals court said that at the time Benitez's case was filed, marital status claims were not covered under the civil rights act. The justices said they would not apply that protection retroactively.

(snip)


Greg Moran: [phone]; [email protected]


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051203/news_1n3benitez.html

[Not_Giving_Up]

1. Of course this was coming

If a pharmacist can deny birth control based on moral confliction, why not this?

[KitchenWitch]

2. Fuck

This sucks on such a deep level.

[Nay]

3. It would be interesting to know whether these 2 doctors have EVER

inseminated an unmarried woman, lesbian or not, in the past. I suspect they probably have, which would destroy their defense. Where's the investigative reporting when you need it?