She was denied two emergency abortions at Sacramento hospitals. Now she’s suing
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lawsuit alleges Dignity Health denied emergency abortion care twice.
- Plaintiff developed sepsis after being sent away despite previable PPROM signs.
- Complaint cites state laws, emotional distress, and demands a San Francisco trial.
A Carmichael woman and her partner are suing Dignity Health, a major nonprofit hospital network, alleging she was denied emergency abortion care on two separate occasions and — during the second episode — developed a life-threatening blood infection.
Rachel Harrison spoke to The Sacramento Bee last year about her first pregnancy loss. At 17 weeks, she felt a gush of fluid and rushed to Mercy San Juan Medical Center, a nearby Catholic-affiliated hospital owned by Dignity Health. There, she was told by a physician assistant that her water had broken, and the baby was unlikely to survive. But because fetal heart tones were detected, nothing could be done.
Harrison returned home and planned to miscarry without medical intervention as advised by the providers at Mercy San Juan. At the urging of family members, she later went to a Kaiser hospital and received care.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in San Francisco Superior Court, Harrison and her longtime partner Marcell Johnson allege they went through the same thing several months later.
In March of this year, again at 17 weeks gestation, Harrison felt her water break and went to the emergency room at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. According to the lawsuit, she had to stay within the hospital network to have her medical care covered by insurance.
At the hospital, Harrison and Johnson were told once again that their fetus still had a heartbeat and there was nothing the hospital could do because of its Catholic affiliation.
The lawsuit alleges the couple was not told that Harrison once again had symptoms consistent with previable preterm premature rupture of membranes, or previable PPROM, the official term for when a pregnant person’s water breaks before the fetus would survive on its own outside the womb, usually around 20-22 weeks. Citing the increased risk of maternal morbidity associated with it, the American Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend patients experiencing previable PPROM always be offered abortion care.
Two options: Go home or to another hospital
In Harrison and Johnson’s case, Mercy General Hospital gave them two options: go home and miscarry without intervention, or go to a Kaiser hospital again. Harrison chose to go to the nearest Kaiser hospital, on Morse Avenue in Arden, where she was told she was presenting with previable PPROM. She was given the option to terminate the pregnancy or to be transferred to the labor & delivery unit at Kaiser Roseville, where she could be stabilized and monitored until 22 weeks, the point of fetal viability.
“Rachel chose to go to Kaiser Roseville,” her lawsuit reads. “She clung on to the hope that her baby would survive.”
But by the time she arrived at the hospital in an ambulance, her baby no longer had a heartbeat. Doctors helped her pass the pregnancy but only part of the placenta passed.
“Eventually, Rachel underwent a (procedure) to remove the placenta during which she developed the high-risk symptoms that are, tragically, hallmarks of previable PPROM,” the lawsuit reads. “She experienced postpartum hemorrhage due to her retained placenta and lost significant amounts of blood. Rachel also experienced chorioamnionitis, an infection around her placenta that developed into sepsis and required that she be placed on intravenous antibiotics.”
Harrison underwent a blood transfusion and stayed at the hospital for three days, until she was stable enough to return home. Her lawsuit describes how the couple fell into a deep depression after each miscarriage. They sought counseling and became unable to work due to emotional — and in Harrison’s case, physical — stress.
Legal accusations
Harrison and Johnson’s lawsuit names Dignity Health, its Sacramento-area hospitals Mercy San Juan Medical Center and Mercy General Hospital, and 10 unnamed individuals “who may also be responsible for the violations alleged.”
The complaint accuses Dignity Health and the two hospitals of violating multiple laws including California’s Emergency Services Law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and unfair competition law. Attorney General Rob Bonta cited the same laws in a 2024 case against a Catholic hospital in Humboldt County that denied abortion care to a Eureka woman.
The Carmichael couple also accuses the hospital network of violating their right to privacy, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and medical malpractice. They are seeking unspecified damages, including attorney fees, as well as a jury trial in San Francisco, where the health system is headquartered.
“While waiting to learn if I would lose my child, my own life, or both, I felt deep pain and despair. I was traumatized,” Harrison said through a spokesperson. “There is simply no way to justify the inhumane actions of Dignity Health.”
Dignity Health did not comment on the lawsuit. A hospital spokesperson said in a statement: “At Mercy San Juan Medical Center, we are committed to providing the highest quality, compassionate care to every patient. When a pregnant woman’s health is at risk, appropriate emergency care is provided. The well-being of our patients is the central mission for our dedicated caregivers.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM.
