The DuPont Clinic, based in Washington D.C., has filed a lawsuit against Beverly Hills following the decision to revoke the abortion business’s new lease for its planned future location in the city.
Mentioned in the lawsuit are Beverly Hills Mayor Julian Gold, City Manager Nancy Hunt-Coffey, Deputy City Manager Keith Sterling, City Attorney Laurence Weiner, and Chief of Police Mark Stainbrook. The DuPont Clinic alleges that its plans were foiled in part due to the actions of the city and city officials. It claims that the city and the building’s landlord, Doughlas Emmett Inc., caved to pressure from pro-lifers, according to LAist. The city, however, maintains that it had nothing to do with the revocation of the lease.
“For any business that wishes to locate in Beverly Hills, the city’s role is to process permits in a timely manner,” city officials told the Beverly Hills Courier. “The city is already home to medical offices that offer reproductive health services and has been very clear on its position of strongly supporting a person’s right to choose. The decision to rescind DuPont Clinic’s lease was not made by the city of Beverly Hills.”
The City then offered a timeline of the events leading up to the landlord’s decision not to allow the facility to lease the location after all. That timeline indicates that in April 2023, Beverly Hills City Attorney Larry Wiener reviewed language on DuPont’s website that was “potentially in conflict with California abortion laws.” There were also outstanding permit issues with medical gas and asbestos abatement certification at the building. In addition, the Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD) had been in discussions with the landlord and the facility regarding safety concerns. The FBI had also been involved.
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In May, the BHPD drafted a public safety notice to tenants of the building regarding the expected activities at the building. On June 12, 2023, the landlord said it would revoke the lease for the DuPont Clinic following a safety walkthrough with the BHPD and the FBI on June 5.
In a letter to the abortion business, the attorney of landlord Douglas Emmett wrote, “Neither the Tenant nor its broker, Circa Properties, Inc., disclosed that the primary focus of Tenant’s practice would be providing abortions for abnormal and high-risk pregnancies including what are commonly referred to as late term abortions. More importantly, neither Tenant nor its broker disclosed the fact that Tenant’s clinic in Washington D.C. had been the focus of ongoing protests and disturbances of a nature which are likely to interfere with the use and enjoyment of other tenants’ premises in this Building.”
At the time of the June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, Beverly Hills lit up City Hall in pink to show its support for abortion. City council members also unanimously supported a resolution in favor of abortion on demand throughout pregnancy.
“Beverly Hills really advertised itself as a place that was safe for abortion care. And Douglas Emmett, the landlord, was fully supportive of this mission,” an attorney for the abortion facility said.
Regardless, the safety issues surrounding the DuPont Clinic’s building appear to be what caused its landlord to abandon the partnership.
