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

KFF Health NewsNov 1 2024

The city of Beverly Hills has agreed to train its employees on abortion clinic protections 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 California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Bonta's office said the city's then-mayor, city attorney, and city manager pressured DuPont Clinic's landlord last spring to cancel the lease and that city officials also delayed permits to the clinic. They went so far as to warn the building owner that it 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 provider is one of a handful of clinics nationwide that advertise abortions past 28 weeks of gestation. It had secured a lease and begun preparations to open a second U.S. location in Beverly Hills.

Concerned about potential anti-abortion protests and negative media coverage, city officials "engaged in a pressure campaign under the guise of public safety," according to Bonta's complaint. The actions "blatantly violated" state law, Bonta said in the complaint. It's 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 right 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."

In signing the agreement, the city did not admit fault or liability. In a statement, Mayor Lester Friedman said the city disagreed with the allegations in the attorney general's complaint.

"Beverly Hills is already home to medical facilities that offer complete reproductive health services," Friedman said in a statement. "The city reaffirms and pledges that it did not and will not discriminate against any reproductive healthcare provider and strongly supports a woman's right to choose."

As part of the agreement which has been approved by the Beverly Hills City Council and must be approved by the Los Angeles County Superior Court, city officials will be required to train employees about state and federal protections for abortion clinics, create a protocol for handling complaints of potential violations, and appoint a "reproductive justice compliance officer" to manage the training program and materials.

California prohibits abortions past the point of fetal viability, around 24 weeks, except in cases in which the life or health of the woman is at risk. Proposition 1 strengthened reproductive freedom protections in the state constitution.

Approved by an overwhelming majority of statewide voters in 2022, the law says that the state, and by extension local governments, "shall not deny or interfere with an individual's reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives."

Bonta said the measure, which at the time was widely regarded 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 need to honor and follow those rights and protections and when they’re not, we will get involved."

DuPont Clinic had announced plans in October 2022 to expand to the Los Angeles area, according to Bonta's office. The following month, flyers opposing the clinic's opening 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 security risks, something Bonta said they'd never done with previous properties targeted by protesters.

The city attorney instructed city officials to not issue permits to DuPont until he'd spoken with the clinic about "whether the proposed use is allowed or not." He later suggested DuPont provide a letter "confirming its intention to comply with California law" as it relates to abortions later in pregnancy.

"They acted differently and inserted themselves in delayed permits and launching a pressure campaign based on the fact that reproductive freedom is at stake," Bonta said. "They targeted DuPont because of the fact that it provided fully legal reproductive health care."

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

"How did this get through?" council member Sharona Nazarian immediately wrote back.

Hunt-Coffey replied: "Well, it's a private business renting space in a private building. We don't have anything in our code that prevents it…"

What followed was a series of attempts by then-mayor Julian Gold, Hunt-Coffey, and the Beverly Hills police chief to stymie 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 were to happen. 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 uphold state laws that protect abortion rights. He also suggested he would support amending state law to levy financial penalties on those who violate it.