What is the effect of the age-parity rule on a plaintiff in her case?

The dissent attempts to characterize the defendants' action as "merely their judgment that the operation was not warranted in this plaintiff's case." This is simply incorrect. The essence of plaintiff's claim is just the opposite: Defendants' refusal to sterilize plaintiff was based not on medical factors peculiar to her case but on an arbitrary age-parity formula. In effect, according to plaintiff, this rule is as constitutionally odious as a rule prohibiting voluntary sterilization of blacks. Plaintiff argues that through use of the age-parity rule defendants violated her constitutional rights by attempting to decide for her that she must subject herself to the possibility of pregnancy, despite the risk to her health, and by attempting to decide how many children she and her husband should have and by what means they may prevent conception. We need not determine whether plaintiff's contentions are sound, particularly without a full development of the facts, but it is massive understatement to say that they are not frivolous. See Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946). Plaintiff is therefore entitled to a full adjudication in the district court.