The City of Beverly Hills is seeking to recover $400,000 in legal fees from an all-trimester abortion business that never opened in the city.
The DuPont Clinic, which is based in Washington D.C., announced in 2022 — shortly after the overturning of Roe v. Wade and shortly before the passage of California’s expansive pro-abortion Proposition 1 — that it would be opening another all-trimester facility in California. There was a large outcry against the opening of the facility, and DuPont’s lease was eventually terminated months before it was scheduled to open. DuPont filed a lawsuit against the city, which was settled in October.
DuPont accused four city officials — including Mayor Julian Gold — of withholding permits, pressuring the landlord to cancel the lease, and holding “secret meetings” with the pro-life group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust. DuPont filed a lawsuit against the City and the landlord, Douglas Emmett Inc., and an investigation by the California Department of Justice found that city officials illegally interfered with the facility’s opening.
However, Mayor Lester Friedman said:
The City cooperated fully with the Attorney General’s investigation, and the evidence presented demonstrated that the City did not interfere with the planned opening of the clinic and the decision to rescind DuPont Clinic’s lease was not made by the City of Beverly Hills. We disagree with the allegations in the Attorney General’s complaint.
On October 31, 2024, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a proposed settlement that would require the city to train its employees and elected officials on abortion facility protections and develop a procedure for reporting potential future violations to the state under Proposition 1, which made abortion a “right” under the state constitution in 2022.
Bonta accused former mayor Julian Gold, the city attorney, the city manager, and the police chief of violating state law in its dealings with DuPont, but the city was not subject to any fines or penalties and did not admit to any wrongdoing.
DuPont would have been the only facility in Southern California to commit abortions after 24 weeks. It lost its lease months before it planned to open in 2023.
After more than a year in court, lawmakers moved to prevent similar future issues by making it easier for abortionists to set up shop in cities by removing cities’ power to restrict them. But DuPont had already stopped fighting to get the lease renewed.
In 2022, DuPont had announced on Twitter, “DuPont Clinic is thrilled to announce that we are expanding to Los Angeles, California! We plan to open Fall 2023 under the leadership of @famplanObGyn. The need for all-trimester abortion care has never been greater.”
But the facility never opened, as pro-life activists pushed for DuPont’s lease to be revoked. The city council had previously approved the new facility with a 5-0 vote, and then-Mayor Lili Bosse said at the time, “This is something I wholeheartedly support with all my soul.”
