Lesbians for Choice in Health Care?

Jennifer Marshall / August 22, 2008

Lesbians who want artificial insemination should rally to support greater choice in health care. That’s the real story of the recent California Supreme Court decision Benitez v. North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group.

In Benitez (pdf), the California Supreme Court was forced to decide which is more important: the ability of a lesbian to receive artificial insemination at a particular health clinic, or the religious views of her fertility doctors that a child shouldn’t be brought into the world without a mother and a father. To its credit, the Court saw that this was a conflict. The lawyers for the lesbian wanted them to brush aside the conscience claims of the doctors, but the Court instead faced the issue head-on. Unfortunately, the Court decided that the state’s interest in promoting access to fertility treatments regardless of sexual orientation outweighed the religious liberty interests of the doctors. The whole conflict could have been avoided, though, if only Guadalupe Benitez had better insurance which allowed her greater choice in health care providers. (more…)