Re “Pro-choice activists call out Beverly Hills City Council,” May 23 issue

I just wanted to recognize and commend you on your consistent, thorough and balanced reporting of the DuPont clinic situation. Keep up the good work. Journalists like you are much appreciated.

Heather Fels

Beverly Hills

I am not at all surprised that certain Beverly Hills senior council members and city staff are alleged to have interfered in DuPont’s effort to open a clinic in our city. Abortion may be the law of the land in California, and our elected leaders may be quick to climb a soapbox to proclaim that, but the bottom line is that law-and-order will always be our city’s guiding value.

Law-and-order as a value is different than public safety as a policy priority. Consequently, concepts like rightful access to reproductive health care, and civil rights more generally, will always take a back seat. Our electorate is with them.

Beverly Hills may vote Democratic on balance, but when it comes to casting a ballot, we show a different face. For example, the 2020 general election ballot included measures to eliminate money bail, to offer alternatives to incarceration and to restore voting rights after prison. Beverly Hills voters showed less support for these measures than did L.A. County voters by a margin of 5-10 percentage points.

Beverly Hills voters were also far less likely to support such measures than voters in West Hollywood and Santa Monica. Support in Beverly Hills trailed support in those cities by 20- 30 percentage points. That is a huge disparity that suggests our community thinks very differently about crime and punishment. Indeed, Beverly Hills voters were also more inclined to support new restrictions on parole than were our neighbors.

Our city leaders may talk a good game from the council dais about human rights and the like, but when it comes to acting, they know their community. Tanking an abortion clinic over potential street protests was an easy call.

Hopefully, the DuPont clinic’s lawsuit will go to trial and shine additional light on the actions of our city manager, Nancy Hunt-Coffey, and the council members who gave short shrift to abortion rights at this pivotal moment.

Mark Elliot

Beverly Hills