Providence St. Joseph Hospital Eureka in Humboldt County illegally declined to perform the procedure, the lawsuit alleges.

California's attorney general on Monday sued a Catholic hospital accused of refusing to provide an emergency abortion in February to a woman whose water broke prematurely, putting her at risk of potentially life-threatening infection and hemorrhage.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued a Eureka, Calif., hospital Monday over the health-care provider’s refusal to provide a pregnant patient with emergency abortion care under an alleged policy that prohibited the treatment so long as a fetal heartbeat could be detected.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed a lawsuit against Providence Health & Services, alleging that Eureka’s St. Joseph Hospital denied emergency abortion care to a woman who arrived in pain and severely bleeding after her water broke just 15 weeks into pregnancy.

California's attorney general on Monday sued a Catholic hospital accused of refusing to provide an emergency abortion in February to a woman whose water broke prematurely, putting her at risk of potentially life-threatening infection and hemorrhage.

The state said that despite a doctor’s recommendation and state law, a Catholic hospital declined to provide an abortion because fetal heart tones were present.

Providence St. Joseph hospital in Eureka, CA illegally denied a pregnant woman an emergency abortion, the AG alleged in a new lawsuit. PHOTO: Providence St. Joseph website screen image

Providence St. Joseph Hospital refused to help the woman — despite finding her unborn children would not survive, and she likely would not either.

Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing a California hospital, alleging it denied emergency abortion care to pregnant patients experiencing miscarriages and other emergencies. Bonta’s office alleges that Providence St.