How CA abortion access is being blocked in Beverly Hills

California’s Democratic leaders often tout the state as a safe haven for abortion rights. They’re now trying to help women in Arizona get around a potential ban.

But as CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff explains in his deeply reported story, there are hurdles to abortion access that remain in California, including in the Democratic stronghold city of Beverly Hills, where an abortion provider lost its lease at a medical center last year.

DuPont Clinic is a Washington, D.C. provider that performs third-trimester abortions. According to the company’s lawsuit against Beverly Hills and Douglas Emmett, Inc. (the landlord that rescinded its lease), DuPont chose Beverly Hills for its second clinic partly because it believed the city would support it. 

But as renovations for a leased office and permit applications with the city were underway, anti-abortion protestors began showing up outside the building that housed DuPont’s office. In April 2023, the group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust projected the words “MURDER MILL” onto the side of the building, and one clinic opponent during a city council meeting suggested that Beverly Hills would develop a “reputation of condoning murder.”

DuPont’s lawsuit alleges that the city then met with representatives from landlord Douglas Emmett and directly asked if there was any way to “simply prevent DuPont from opening its clinic.” In June 2023, the landlord canceled DuPont’s lease. 

Citing the lawsuit, a spokesperson for Beverly Hills did not respond to a list of questions from Alexei about the DuPont controversy, but did say the decision to rescind the lease was not made by the city. Underscoring the sensitivities permeating this saga, when Alexei attempted to ask a Beverly Hills city councilmember questions, a top administrator physically stood in front of him, shutting down the conversation.

Meanwhile, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust has taken responsibility for shutting down the Beverly Hills clinic. As for abortion access advocates, a representative from the National Institute for Reproductive Health said what happened in Beverly Hills “can happen anywhere” if people and elected officials are complacent about reproductive rights.

Read more about the battle in Beverly Hills in Alexei’s story. 

In other developments on abortion rights:

• Arizona access: The bill backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislative Women’s Caucus to temporarily authorize Arizona doctors to provide services in California cleared its first hurdle in a 52-12 vote on Thursday and is now before an Assembly committee. As an urgency measure, Senate Bill 233 requires two-thirds approval in both the Assembly and state Senate to reach Newsom.

• Newsom vs. Trump: Amid his criminal trial in New York, former President Donald Trump blasted California’s governor on reproductive rights. On his Truth Social platform, Trump tied “Gavin Newscum” (“who is allowing his once beautiful State to go to Hell”) to radical Democrats who support abortion during the eighth or ninth month “or even after birth.” Fact-checkers say Trump is wrong on that. In response, Newsom posted that Trump is “doubling down on abortion bans” and bragging about taking away women’s rights.

From Wendy Fry of CalMatters’ California Divide team:

Asylum seekers battling dangerous conditions and a slow-moving bureaucracy are leaving their encampments in eastern San Diego County and wandering down a remote country highway, underscoring how federal officials have struggled to handle recent increases in immigration.

Small groups of at least 30 asylum seekers walked away Sunday from an open-air camp in the remote desert region of eastern San Diego County along the U.S.-Mexico border. The border camps have become a flashpoint between immigrant advocates and federal officials as migrants wait to be processed by federal immigration agents to formally seek asylum.

Some migrants told CalMatters they had been waiting in the rugged desert for days to be processed by the Border Patrol. Most had crossed into the United States through gaps in the border wall.

Jenn Budd, a former Border Patrol agent turned immigration rights activist, said the federal government does not provide the migrants in the camps with any food, water or shelter. Gov. Newsom said in January California cannot continue providing humanitarian aid at the border while the state is facing a budget deficit. 

One man, who would only identify himself as Jose from Honduras because he feared for his safety, had been traveling in a group that took off down Old Highway 80. His group included about seven people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. 

• Jose: “We’ve been waiting here for more than two days and immigration (officials) won’t tell us anything. They’re only taking children and babies, and they don’t want to take us.” 

Several said they were looking for help. Other groups also left the camp in different directions. 

Neither Customs and Border Protection nor Border Patrol officials immediately responded to questions from CalMatters about how many migrants had abandoned the camps. 

Sunday morning, more than 200 people were in one camp off In-Ko-Pah Park Road near Jacumba Hot Springs — 75 miles to the east of San Diego. Some were huddled around smoldering campfires or resting inside makeshift tents fashioned out of tarps. Others complained they felt sick from exposure to the desert wind and sun. 

A federal judge in Los Angeles earlier this month ordered U.S. border officials to quickly process and relocate migrant children from the open-air sites where advocates have documented squalid and dangerous conditions. However, several children had been waiting for days for processing, their parents told CalMatters.

San Diego became the busiest sector in the nation for migrant arrivals this month, surpassing Tucson, Arizona. Agents in the California sector apprehended nearly 9,000 migrants in one recent week in April.

Even for Californians accustomed to how long it can take to finish counting votes, the recount in a Silicon Valley congressional district is next level. 

In the March 5 top two primary, Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian tied for second with 30,249 votes each. That advanced both to the November election, with Sam Liccardo, San Jose’s former mayor.

Since a single vote could change that outcome, a voter asked for a recount. It started April 15, and election officials suggested it could be done in a week or 10 days. 

But now the tally is headed into its third week. Of the 182,000 votes cast in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, nearly 175,000 ballots have been rescanned by machines. As of Friday afternoon, Low led by one vote over Simitian.

The process is taking so long partly because California allows ballots to be returned by mail and in person at any location, not just their home precinct. And the decision to not count individual ballots for various reasons can be challenged.

Still, the recount requester isn’t happy, because it costs $12,000 a day, and there’s no refund even if the recount succeeds, the East Bay Times reports.

And that’s just the actual counting. Voters are also hearing allegations about various underhanded tactics. The person who requested the recount is a former Liccardo staffer and the tally is being funded by a mysterious super PAC. A local prosecutor has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that “dark money” is at play, San Jose Spotlight reported.

Low, who tried to stop the recount, has accused Liccardo of being behind the entire effort; Liccardo denies that.

In the face of a multibillion-dollar state budget deficit, funds for the state’s workforce development program may be at risk — potentially halting the career developments of California adults in many technical industries, as well as hospitality.

But the state’s investment in workforce development for California high schoolers has been growing, writes CalMatters K-12 education reporter Carolyn Jones. Since 2015, California has allotted over $3 billion to grow career and technical education in high schools. In January, Gov. Newsom’s budget proposal left funds intact for expanding career education (though that may change as budget negotiations continue).

Enrollment in career pathways has increased from 2018 to 2023, with modern vocational programs focusing on high-quality careers that reflect the local job market. In the Bay Area, for example, that means lots of computer science pathways. In Los Angeles, schools provide entertainment pathways for careers in Hollywood. And for Madera South High School, located in San Joaquin Valley, its agriculture program and 20-acre farm allow students to learn more about animal science, biology and raising crops and livestock.

Nearly all Madera South students are enrolled in a career pathway — one of the highest participation rates in the state. Sophomore Brianna Ramirez wants to be a horse trainer or veterinarian. She said her grandparents were farmworkers, and were baffled by her interest in agriculture at first.

• Ramirez: “They were like, why is she always with the sheep? Now, it’s ‘Damn, that girl is always busy.’ My goal is to always make them proud. … I want to keep the ag part of my family going.”

For more on high school career programs, read Carolyn’s story.