NorCal women challenge Catholic hospital's restriction on tubal ligation

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WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 30: Supporters of employer-paid birth control rally in front of the Supreme Court before the decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores was announced June 30, 2014 in Washington, DC. The high court ruled 5-4 that requiring family-owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception under the Affordable Care Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) — Supporters of employer-paid birth control rally in front of the Supreme Court before the decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores was announced June 30, 2014 in Washington, DC. The controversial issue of reproductive health is today before a San Francisco court and centers on a hosptal's restrictions to tubal ligation procedures for northern California women.

A Superior Court judge in San Francisco on Tuesday is hearing a case brought by women who want to be sterilized.

At the center of the case, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, is a woman at a Catholic hospital in Redding, California. Hospital officials say they cannot perform the procedure, known as a tubal ligation, because of their religious beliefs.

Claudia Buck, health reporter with the Sacramento Bee, joins the show with more.