Cases & Advocacy

Benitez v. North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group

by Dan Mahoney | Aug 18, 2008 | lesbian parents, parental rights, equal access to fertility

Guadalupe “Lupita” Benitez was denied infertility treatment by her Southern California healthcare providers because she is a lesbian. The trial court rejected the doctors’ claim that they do not have to follow California’s anti-discrimination law because they have religious objections to serving lesbian patients. On December 5, 2005, the Court of Appeal reversed this decision and said that the doctors must be given an opportunity to demonstrate that their refusal to...

Press Release

California Supreme Court Unanimously Rules That Doctors Cannot Deny Treatment to Lesbian Patients

by NCLR Staff | Aug 18, 2008 | LGBT parents, lesbian parents, equal access to fertility, fertility, healthcare discrimination

Justices reject attempt to create exception to California non-discrimination law (San Francisco, CA, August 18, 2008)—Today, the California Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Benitez v. North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group, declaring that the physicians of the North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group cannot deny medical treatment to individuals based on their sexual orientation. In 1999, North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group refused to provide fertility treatments to Guadalupe Benitez...