Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) spoke in support of women’s reproductive rights at a rally in Downtown Los Angeles on June 24. (photo courtesy of the office of Alex Padilla)

The Women’s March Foundation hosted a rally in Downtown Los Angeles on June 24, marking two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Since then, restrictive abortion bans have passed in states across the country. At noon on June 24, a national walk out was staged to protest restrictions to reproductive rights.

The rally included comments from activists and officials, including Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

“Americans should be united on this issue,” Padilla said. “We should be working together to restore the fundamental right to an abortion and the freedom to make your own health care decisions. Yet in Washington, just last month in the Senate, we tried to do this again legislatively only to see what? Republican obstruction yet again. Extreme Republicans blocking common sense legislation to protect access to contraception, to protect access to IVF.”

Ahead of the rally, Women’s March president and founder Emiliana Guereca said the Supreme Court decision proved “how quickly our freedoms can be eroded.”

“We stand united and resolute, continuing to demand that every woman has the right to make decisions about her own body. Our fight is far from over, and we will persist until justice and equality prevail for all,” Guereca said.

June 24 also marked an important date in a lawsuit involving a women’s reproductive health clinic in Beverly Hills that never opened. DuPont Clinic – which planned to perform all-trimester abortions and other reproductive health procedures – was originally scheduled to open in fall 2023 in a building at 8920 Wilshire Blvd. The company that owns the property, Douglas Emmett, rescinded the lease on June 12, 2023, following anti-abortion protests. In the lawsuit, DuPont Clinic alleged that the city of Beverly Hills colluded with anti-abortion activists to have its lease rescinded to prevent it from opening in 2023. DuPont Clinic filed separate litigation against Douglas Emmett.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anne Richardson ruled that the city must turn over employees’ personal communications relating to DuPont Clinic, including “personal emails, text messages, messaging applications, social media accounts and any other personal communications responsive to DuPont’s requests.” The city was required to provide the messages to DuPont by June 24.

“The city is complying with the discovery request for information,” Beverly Hills City Attorney Laurence Wiener said on June 26.

The next hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled on Sept. 18.

Advocacy group Beverly Hills for Choice has been vocal in its support for reproductive rights since the overturning of Roe V. Wade. It has called for an independent investigation into the City Council as to whether it played a role in the rescission of DuPont’s lease.

“In the two years since the Dobbs decision, our country has seen terrible and often life-threatening setbacks in reproductive freedom and reproductive health,” said Andrea Grossman, co-founder of Beverly Hills for Choice. “People have had to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to seek help. Even in blue states, even in California, even in Beverly Hills, abortion access is made difficult or impossible by extremists, and a City Council who did not stand up for a clinic that was set to open here. Where was our supposedly pro-choice City Council’s support for reproductive freedom just this past year? What will happen when another clinic tries to open up here?”