Judge: Catholic Hospital Doesn't Have to Perform Tubal Ligation

A San Francisco judge has denied a woman's request that he require a Catholic hospital to perform a tubal ligation to prevent pregnancy. Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith on Thursday upheld his previous tentative ruling that Mercy Medical Center in Redding, California, was not engaging in sex discrimination by denying Rebecca Chamorro the procedure. The judge said the hospital's policy against sterilization also applies to men and that Chamorro could get the procedure at another hospital.

Mercy Medical Center said the procedure conflicts with the hospital's religious beliefs against sterilization. Health care provider Dignity Health, which operates Mercy Medical, also says the tubal ligation Chamorro seeks is not medically necessary and would violate the hospital's right to freedom of religion. (More California stories.)