The city of Beverly Hills has reached a stipulated judgment with the state Attorney General’s office in connection with the city’s actions regarding the attempt by Consultants in Obstetric and Gynecologic Ultrasonography and Surgery, PLLC (“DuPont”) to open a reproductive healthcare clinic in the city.
The judgment, which must be approved by the court, will settle the Attorney General’s investigation of the city for violations of the California Constitution and Health and Safety Code section 123460, et seq. (“the Reproductive Privacy Act”).
Under the terms of the judgment, the city will not face fines and does not admit any “liability, fault or wrongdoing.” Its terms further provide that the city “shall not discriminate against any Reproductive Healthcare Provider in their provision of full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services, prohibited by the California Constitution, Article I, sections 1 and 1.1, and the Reproductive Privacy Act. The city shall not interfere, obstruct, or otherwise withhold city resources, including city permits and/or public safety resources, from Reproductive Healthcare Providers or the owners of property where the Reproductive Healthcare Providers operate, in a discriminatory manner, as prohibited by the California Constitution, Article I, sections 1 and 1.1 and the Reproductive Privacy Act.”
Moreover, the city agrees in the judgment to take affirmative action, including the development of training modules and materials for select employees regarding state and federal reproductive rights laws. The city must make said training modules and materials publicly available; establish a procedure to report violations thereof; and appoint a “Reproductive Justice Compliance Officer” who shall be responsible for disseminating and overseeing same.
Compliance with the judgment shall be overseen by the Attorney General’s office, with the city obligated to provide yearly reports for five years.
Attorney General Rob Bonta held a press conference on Oct. 31 to announce the stipulated judgment. There, Bonta noted, “I can’t but express my disappointment in the fact that we had to be here at all. And It’s more than a disappointment. It’s anger, and it is frustration that the DOJ had to get involved. We shouldn’t have had to get involved. Governments are there to uphold your rights, defend your liberties, protect you from others who might seek to violate your rights. They’re there to give you safety, including public safety. And the reprehensible actions of Beverly Hills were exactly the opposite. They undermined, stripped away and conned. They interfered with and denied the rights that the state constitution in California state law has given us.”
The city and several current and former officials are still parties to civil litigation regarding this matter. Dr. Jennefer Russo, Chief Medical Officer of the DuPont Clinic, released the following statement in response to the stipulated judgment:
“For years, municipalities across this country have used permitting power and governmental pressure campaigns to quietly prevent clinics from opening and thus limiting abortion access, even in California, which holds itself up as an abortion access state. But never before has the state’s Attorney General had to go to court to intervene when a local government in California abused its power to prevent an abortion clinic from opening. This is unprecedented. Attorney General Bonta intervened because this is more than a city meddling with a private lease: this is about protecting access to abortion and fundamental freedom in California.”
The city has consistently denied any wrongdoing in this matter. Mayor Lester Friedman issued a statement in which he noted, “Beverly Hills is already home to medical facilities that offer complete reproductive health services. 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.”
Councilmember John Mirisch issued a separate statement that said he was the lone City Council vote against the stipulated judgment on grounds, among other things, that the Attorney General’s office has unfairly singled out Beverly Hills.
