‘A pressure campaign’: Beverly Hills settles after allegedly blocking abortion clinic

The city of Beverly Hills has agreed to train its employees to protect abortion clinics after local officials interfered with the opening of an abortion clinic in “blatant” violation of state law, according to a proposed settlement to be unveiled Thursday by the state attorney general California General Rob Bonta. .

Bonta’s office said the then-mayor, the city attorney and the city manager last spring pressured the DuPont Clinic’s landlord to terminate the lease and that city officials also delayed permitting for the clinic. They even went so far as to warn the building owner that he could be liable for bomb threats and shootings at the medical office building in the wealthy city’s business district.

The Washington, D.C.-based reproductive health care provider is one of a handful of the national clinics that advertise abortions after 28 weeks of pregnancy. It had signed a lease and had begun preparations to open a second U.S. location in Beverly Hills.

Concerned about possible anti-abortion protests and negative media coverage, city officials conducted “a pressure campaign under the guise of public safety,” according to Bonta’s complaint. The actions were “blatantly contrary to state law,” Bonta said in the complaint. It is the state’s first action under the voter-passed initiative known as Proposition 1, which enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution.

“It’s a stark reminder that there are efforts here in California to undermine reproductive freedom,” Bonta said in an interview with KFF Health News ahead of the announcement. “These are city officials who took an oath to uphold the state constitution and state law, and they did the opposite.”

When signing the agreement, the city did not admit guilt or liability. Mayor Lester Friedman said in a statement that the city disagreed with the allegations in the attorney general’s complaint.

“Beverly Hills is already home to medical facilities that provide comprehensive reproductive health care,” Friedman said in a statement. “The city affirms and pledges that it has not and will not discriminate against any reproductive health care provider and strongly supports women’s right to choose.”

As part of the agreement approved by the Beverly Hills City Council and subject to approval by the Los Angeles County Superior Court, city officials will be required to train employees on state and federal protections for abortion clinics, and establish a protocol for the handling of complaints. of potential violations, and appoint a “reproductive justice compliance officer” to manage the training program and materials.

California bans abortions after the point of fetal viability, approximately 24 weeks, except in cases where the woman’s life or health is at risk. Proposition 1 strengthened reproductive freedom protections in the state constitution.

The law, which was approved overwhelmingly by statewide voters in 2022, says the state, and by extension local governments, “shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, including their fundamental right to choose abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraception.”

Bonta said the measure, widely viewed at the time as a largely symbolic measure in deeply progressive California, provided a strong legal basis for the state’s case against the city of Beverly Hills and led directly to the settlement agreement.

“There are protections, both constitutional and statutory, that protect reproductive freedom in California,” Bonta said. “Cities must respect and follow these rights and protections, and if they do not, we will be involved.”

DuPont Clinic had announced plans to expand into the Los Angeles area in October 2022, according to Bonta’s office. The following month, flyers protesting the opening of the clinic appeared in and around the building.

Beverly Hills police officials later drafted a plan to send a letter to other tenants of the building warning them of the potential safety risks, something Bonta said they had never done with previous properties targeted by protesters.

The city attorney instructed city officials not to grant permits to DuPont until he spoke with the clinic about “whether the proposed use is permitted or not.” He later suggested that DuPont provide a letter “affirming its intention to comply with California law” regarding abortions later in pregnancy.

“They acted differently and joined in delaying permits and launching a pressure campaign based on the fact that reproductive freedom is at stake,” Bonta said. “They targeted DuPont because it provided fully legal reproductive health care.”

During an April 2023 City Council meeting, City Manager Nancy Hunt-Coffey sent an email to council members alerting them to the controversy over the new clinic, just before several activists spoke out in opposition. The clinic could, she warned, “occasionally be the focus of protests, rallies and, unfortunately, other more violent actions.”

“How did this get through?” Councilwoman Sharona Nazarian immediately wrote back.

Hunt-Coffey responded: “Well, it’s a private company that rents space in a private building. We have nothing in our code that prevents this…’

What followed was a series of attempts by then-Mayor Julian Gold, Hunt-Coffey and the Beverly Hills police chief to obstruct the clinic’s opening, Bonta said. Gold and the police chief met with building owner Douglas Emmett Inc., warning that the clinic could become a “lightning rod” for the city and that the landlord would be “responsible” and “liable” if anything happened. Gold also raised the possibility of bomb threats and active shooters, and the safety of other tenants in the building.

The clinic never opened.

Bonta said his office is prepared to go after local governments that shirk their responsibility to enforce state laws that protect the right to abortion. He also suggested he would support a change to state law to impose financial penalties on those who violate it.

Beverly Hills Councilman John Mirisch said in a statement that Bonta had wrongly singled out the city for “political showmanship.”

“I have seen no evidence that the inability to open the Dupont Clinic in Beverly Hills was the result of the city’s actions or was essentially anything other than a tenant-landlord dispute,” said Mirisch, who served on the moment the clinic was prepared. open there.

In a statement, a DuPont representative praised Bonta’s intervention.

“Beverly Hills blocked the opening of our clinic, knowing it would limit access to abortion not only for the residents of their city, but also for Californians and people living under abortion bans across the country,” said Jennefer Russo, who scheduled to lead the Beverly Hills Clinic.

(Update: This article was updated on October 31 at 1:45 PM PT with comments from Beverly Hills Councilman John Mirisch and DuPont Clinic representative Jennefer Russo.)