The state attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Humboldt County's Providence St. Joseph Hospital for refusing to provide an emergency abortion on a night when the mother might have died without one.

California is obviously a very pro-choice state on the abortion issue, and has not seen women dying because of abortion restrictions the way we’re seeing in some red states. But we apparently did nearly have a woman die because of abortion restrictions this past February, when Anna Nusslock, 15 weeks pregnant, was informed that her unborn twins would both not survive, and that she was at risk of death herself if she did not abort them immediately.

The Catholic hospital Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Humboldt County’s Eureka still refused to perform the abortion procedure, but now Bay City News reports that California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing the hospital for refusing to perform the life-saving abortion.

“It is damning that here in California, where abortion care is a constitutional right, we have a hospital implementing a policy that’s reminiscent of heartbeat laws in extremist red states,” Bonta said in a Monday press release announcing the lawsuit. “With today’s lawsuit, I want to make this clear for all Californians: abortion care is healthcare. You have the right to access timely and safe abortion services. At the California Department of Justice, we will use the full force of this office to hold accountable those who, like Providence, are breaking the law.”

Nusslock (seen above) was enduring heavy pain and bleeding after her water broke prematurely with the two twins with whom she was pregnant. She was diagnosed with previable preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), and told the twins would surely not survive. Moreover, she was told she might not survive either. But the hospital insisted one of the twins still had a “detectable heart tone,” and refused to perform the procedure.

She asked if she could drive to San Francisco to get the abortion, and says her doctor told her “If you try to drive, you will hemorrhage and die before you get to a place that can help you." She was able to procure the procedure at the Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata, which was only 20 minutes away.

"Without abortion care I risked infection or hemorrhage, both of which are so dangerous to my health and my life and these risks increase with every minute that passed," Nusslock said at a Monday press conference. "I needed an abortion to protect myself against these risks, and I needed an abortion so that my husband didn't lose both of his daughters and his wife in one night.”

Bonta’s lawsuit also seeks an injunction and a court order that the hospital perform emergency abortions while the case plays out. Providence St. Joseph Hospital did not respond to Bay City News’ request for comment.

Related: Supreme Court Briefly Leaks Decision Indicating It Will Temporarily Allow Emergency Abortions to Continue In Idaho [SFist]

Image: @AGRobBonta via Twitter