illegal for doctors to deny gay couples artificial insemination even in the
event that such a procedure would conflict with a physician’s religious or moral
views.
exempt defendant physicians here from conforming their conduct to the …
antidiscrimination requirements [of the law],” wrote Justice Joyce L. Kennard,
according to the Los Angeles Times.
The case involved Guadalupe T.
Benitez, a lesbian who said she was denied artificial insemination years ago by
Dr. Christine Brody, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the North Coast Women's
Care Medical Group in Vista, Calif. Benitez alleged that Brody’s religious views
prevented her from performing the procedure, the Times reported.
doctor.
claimed she would not perform the procedure on any unmarried woman, heterosexual
or homosexual.
The Christian doctors in the
case had argued a “crisis of conscience” prohibited them from performing the
insemination and playing a role in creating life under such circumstances, the
Times reported.
treatment,” which is why it ruled it would be unfair and discriminatory to deny
“medical treatment” to anyone based on sexual orientation.
for Faith and Freedom, predicted that the ruling would spur voters “to recognize
the radical agenda of our opposition” and support a November ballot initiative
that would amend the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage in California.
A California Supreme Court ruling in May made gay marriage legal in the
state.