Same Sex Couple's Lawsuit over Discriminatory Medical Procedure Ends in Settlement

September 30, 2009

San Diego - The long-running suit of a lesbian couple against two physicians has ended through a settlement.

The lawsuit was filed by Guadalupe Benitez, from Oceanside, in 2001 against Drs. Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton at North Coast Womens Care in Vista. It raised the topic concerning the civil rights same-sex couples have against religious liberty for medical practitioners.

The suit alleged that the physicians refused to perform insemination on her due to their Christian beliefs. Their religion prohibits them from doing it for a lesbian couple.

The insemination was performed by another doctor and she gave birth to a child with her partner Joanne Clark.

Hence, she sued the clinic and the two doctors, saying that the civil rights law prohibits doctors from discriminating patients based on their own religious values.

In 2006, a state appeals court ruled in favor of the physicians. However, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously for the lesbian couple in August 2008, stating that religious-freedom claims do not excuse unlawful discrimination.

The settlement’s terms were not revealed to the public.